Mesothelioma: Causes and Symptoms

Mesothelioma is cancer in the mesothelium, a protective membrane that lines almost all of the body's internal organs. About two-thirds of cases of mesothelioma disease begin inside the pleural mesothelium of the chest cavity. Mesothelioma can also begin inside the abdominal cavity and the heart.

Regardless of where they originate, malignant cells from the mesothelium could invade and damage nearby cells. Cancer cells can also metastasize, or perhaps spread, to other parts in the body.

If not treated, mesothelioma usually causes death within four months to a year after diagnosis. Most patients with mesothelioma die as a result of respiratory failure or pneumonia. About one-third of patients build a small-bowel obstruction, when a tumor extends with the diaphragm. About 10% die of cardiac complications when the tumor invades the pericardium -- the particular thin membrane that surrounds the heart -- and the heart themselves.

Mesothelioma is a relatively rare form of cancer. About 2, 000 new cases in the disease are diagnosed in the particular U. S. each year.

Causes of Mesothelioma

The key risk factor for mesothelioma is working together with asbestos. Asbestos is a gaggle of minerals with thin incredibly tiny fibers. Because these fibers are resistant to heat, fire, and chemicals , nor conduct electricity, asbestos have been mined and used widely within the construction, automotive, and different industries.

If tiny asbestos fibers are released into your air, as they are in the manufacturing process, they might be inhaled or swallowed, resulting in serious health problems. Possibly 70% to 80% of mesothelioma cases may be linked to exposure to asbestos at your workplace. There is also some evidence that members of the family and others living with asbestos workers produce an increased risk of establishing mesothelioma, and possibly different asbestos-related diseases. This risk would be the result of exposure for you to asbestos dust brought home for the clothing and hair connected with asbestos workers. Cases of mesothelioma are also seen in people living near asbestos mines.

However, mesothelioma have been reported in some individuals without known exposure to asbestos. Additional, uncommon, but possible leads to include:

Zeolites

These minerals are chemically linked to asbestos. One of these kind of related minerals, erionite, is common within the soil in some aspects of Turkey, according to the actual American Cancer Society. Exposure to erionite is considered responsible for high premiums of mesothelioma rates inside those areas.

Radiation

The American Cancer Society notes that there have been a few published stories of mesotheliomas that developed following contact with high doses of radiation towards the chest or abdomen as well as after injections of thorium dioxide (Thorotrast), a material utilised by doctors in some chest X-rays before 1950s.

SV40 virus

Some studies in research laboratory animals have raised the chance that infection with the simian malware 40 (SV40) might improve the risk of developing mesothelioma, based on the American Cancer Society. A number of injectable polio vaccines offered between 1955 and 1963 were contaminated with SV40, exposing as much as 30 million people within the U. S. to genital herpes. So far, the largest studies addressing this challenge in humans have not found a greater risk for mesothelioma as well as other cancers among people who received the contaminated vaccines seeing that children.

Genetics