Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the commonest form of mesothelioma, which is a cancer impacting on the mesothelium.  Only around three thousand total mesothelioma cases are reported a year in the U.  S.  and the pleural form accounts for three-fourths of it.  It affects the pleura, which is the lining that protects the lungs.  The pleura is built with two membranous layers to shores up the lungs and shields the lung cavity.  While the outer layer guards the chest hole and diaphragm, the inner one called the visceral layer includes the lungs.  Pleural mesothelioma generally attacks one of these layers at first but may spread to the other layer too. 

After settling down in convenient places, the particles trigger chemical reactions causing the cells to divide in a lawless manner. The activity thickens the pleural layers and mesothelical cells and a fluid build-up called pleural effusion occurs. The extra fluid presses the lungs thereby preventing easy breathing. The cancer is heralded by persistent dry cough, emission of blood through coughing, problems with swallowing, shortness of breath, weight loss of inexplicable nature, fatigue, lump formation around the chest etc.

Diagnosing pleural mesothelioma is fraught with dangers because these symptoms can be the result of other diseases like pneumonia and influenza too. It requires proper examination of the medical history of the patient, imaging tests like CT scan, MRI, X-ray and biopsy to establish the type and class of the cancer.

Conventional treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. If the problem is so acute, doctors may combine two or all of these for pull off better effects. But mesothelioma prognosis is not always desirably bright because most cases are detected only at highly progressed stages. If diagnosed at the initial stage itself, the patient has more chances of survival.

The illness is caused by asbestos exposure at usually workplaces and as such, the malignant pleural mesothelioma patient has the lawful rights to claim for damages from the company or individual who are responsible without delay.  The compensation amount awarded in such cases can sometimes be as big as several million bucks.

Tags: Malignant Pleural, Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma Disease, Pleural Cancer, Pleural ill

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 9:38 pm and is filed under mesothelioma cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.