What is Mesothelioma ?

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma & Asbestos Exposure
"What is mesothelioma?" That's a question oncologists often hear immediately upon delivering a diagnosis of this disease. The short answer is, mesothelioma is a cancer that is directly traceable to repeated or long-term exposure to asbestos. Usually, though, a longer explanation is needed.

The disease gets its name because cancerous tumors form in the mesothelium – the lining – of an internal organ. In the case of mesothelioma, the tumors form in the lining of the lung, the lining of the abdomen, the lining of heart or the lining of a testicle.

All four types of the cancer are aggressive. Cancer cells usually spread rapidly, and the life expectancy of someone with the disease is between eight and 18 months. Through clinical trials and experimental therapies, specialists seek more effective treatments to extend life expectancy and, they hope, to find a cure.

A primary reason the survival rates of all types of this disease are so low is that most diagnoses are made in stage III or stage IV – a direct result of mesothelioma having mild, often undetectable, symptoms in its early stages of development.

Who Gets Mesothelioma?

People believed to be in the high risk category for getting mesothelioma are those who were exposed to asbestos on a regular basis (six months or more) while on the job.