Mesothelioma is a very complicated disease. It is a type of lung cancer and, as is common with lung cancer, symptoms of the disease can take many years to develop.

It is caused by exposure to asbestos. The disease usually goes undetected for up to 30 years after it first develops. Once the symptoms are present, the disease has already progressed to the last stage when treatment is very difficult. There are few treatments that can be effective in the later stages.

disease detection

Mesothelioma symptoms can vary from person to person, adding to the difficulty in detecting the disease. Symptoms also vary by type. It can be pleural, peritoneal or pericardial. Another problem with screening for the disease is that the symptoms can often be mistaken for common illnesses like the flu, bronchitis, and heart disease.

The best chance of detecting the disease is a careful review of the patient’s history. Discovering previous exposure to asbestos may be the main thing to trigger testing and eventually detection of the disease. The tests that are currently used are quite expensive. Many times doctors will avoid testing unless they have a specific reason to suspect it.

Research is being done to help develop tests for the early detection of the disease. Hopefully, these tests could diagnose the disease early enough for treatment to be effective.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms include:

– cough

– difficulty breathing

– chest pain

– unexplained weight loss

– trouble sleeping

These symptoms can easily be misdiagnosed. Many of them are common symptoms of bronchial diseases or even heart diseases. During the time a doctor investigates these possible diseases, the cancer is given time to continue to grow. This is a costly mistake. Doctors often don’t immediately think it might be mesothelioma unless they know that patient’s history of asbestos exposure.

Treatment

There are three common courses of treatment. Treatments include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Surgery is the most common option as it allows removal of the infected area. The lining of the chest and abdomen, part of the lungs, or part of the diaphragm may be removed during surgery. Radiation can be used to destroy cancer cells that cannot be removed by surgery. Chemotherapy can also be used to kill cancer cells. No treatment is completely effective as lung cancer can be difficult to treat in general as it spreads very quickly throughout the body in its late stages.

Conclusion

Mesothelioma is a very deadly cancer. It is difficult to detect during the early stages when the cancer is best treated. It is also expensive to diagnose as tests can be expensive. Many doctors will look for other diseases before checking for this disease. That is why if you have been exposed to asbestos and have these symptoms, you should tell your doctor about your asbestos exposure. This is the best chance you have of contracting the disease and starting treatment that could save your life.