The reason you may not be familiar with the term “mesothelioma” is because it is a relatively rare form of cancer. However, it should be noted that mesothelioma cases have been on the rise in the past 20 years. Men are more likely than women to develop mesothelioma but this doesn’t mean that women don’t get the disease. Mesothelioma can strike any man or any women at any given age.

Who Gets Mesothelioma? Am I At Risk?

If you work with or around asbestos then your chances of developing mesothelioma are greatly increased when compared to individuals with no exposure to asbestos. Of all reported cases of mesothelioma, 75 percent of patients indicated regular exposure to asbestos at their place of employment. It is important to note here that there have been cases of mesothelioma where the individual has had no known exposure to asbestos.

Mesotheliomas are serious and potentially life-threatening. Survival of patients with mesothelioma is usually short if effective treatment is not found, especially those with tumors that can be shown to be growing aggressively. Because mesotheliomas have usually spread throughout the pleural or peritoneal cavity before the diagnosis is made, complete surgical removal is only rarely possible. Moreover, mesotheliomas are not as sensitive to radiation therapy or chemotherapy as are many other tumors.

Mesothelioma is a cancerous disease that is becoming more and more common. Affecting the mesothelial cells that make up the mesothelium – the outer lining that protects the body’s major organs such as the heart, stomach and lungs – this form of cancer is a direct result of regular and unprotected exposure to asbestos. The symptoms and the latency period of this disease mean that it is difficult to diagnose. Treatment for mesothelioma is still being investigated through clinical trials and research, but as a rule it responds poorly to the treatments that are currently used.

The people most at risk from being carriers of this cancer are those have worked with asbestos over the past thirty to fifty years. Because of this, the disease is most common in men between the ages of sixty and seventy as this is the group that commonly worked with asbestos during those years. Because of the lack of protection and regulations in those days, these workers were constantly exposed to the dust and fibres from the asbestos, which caused the cells of the mesothelium to become abnormal. However, because the disease takes decades to develop fully and manifest, many of them were oblivious to this until thirty to fifty years later. It is these men who are now lodging multi-million dollar lawsuits against the unscrupulous companies that exposed them to the dangers of asbestos, even though they were aware that it could cause harm to the employees.

There are also other people at risk from the disease; namely those who have had regular contact with a person who has worked with asbestos. Because these workers regularly carried dust and fibres on their clothes, skin and in their hair, they fibres and dust could be ingested by family members, who were then at risk of developing mesothelioma, respiratory problems or another asbestos related disease.

The organs most affected by mesothelioma are the lungs and the surrounding tissue. Pleural mesothelioma, which is the type affecting the lining of the lungs, is the most common variation of this cancer with symptoms which include breathing and swallowing difficulties, coughing, shortness of breath, fever and weight loss.