Pleural Mesothelioma
Pleural mesothelioma is a disease that affects the lining of the lungs, or the lung pleura. Sometimes doctors refer to this disease as mesothelioma of the pleura.
It is a common notion and misconception that mesothelioma disease is a kind of primary lung cancer but it's is not at all. Mesothelioma disease is a cancer of the serous membranes.
These membranes enclose many of the internal organs spread all throughout the midsection of the human body including but not limited to the lining of the lungs.
One of the most common types of mesothelioma disease is known as pleural mesothelioma which generally affects the serous membranes of the human lungs.
What is known as Pleural mesothelioma cancer usually represents around 75 percent of all mesothelioma disease cases. mesothelioma disease is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers which eventually settle themselves and stay in the lungs forever. Tiny asbestos fibers eventually become permanently imbedded in the inner lining of the lung (the pleura) and over time they can cause what's known as chronic inflammation and eventually will lead to growth of severe cancerous tumors and in some cases asbestosis.
Pleural mesothelioma cancer will normally appear as a multiple tumor with masses that affect the parietal surface of the lung which is inside and closer to the lung and the visceral surface which is outside and further from the lung of the pleura. Usually the parietal surface has a much more greater involvement than the visceral.
There is usually a slightly higher incidence of mesothelioma disease in the right side lung apparently due to the overwhelming fact that the right lung is generally larger and has a far greater amount of pleural surface area within it.
The very large growths in the pleura are normally noted in mesothelioma disease patients upon diagnosis. As mesothelioma disease progresses these growths tend to lead to a complete obliteration of the human lung cavity. These tumors then spread from the lung pleura to other organs including the heart and the abdomen. mesothelioma disease usually also invades the lymph nodes and the circulatory system.
Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms
One of the most common symptoms known for pleural mesothelioma patients is chronic chest pain but the chest pain is often not associated directly with the lung pleura. It often appears in the shoulder or the upper abdomen area. Other known symptoms are shortness of breath which is called dyspnea and is also a symptom of mesothelioma disease.
Chronic coughing, rapid weight loss and anorexia are present in some mesothelioma disease patients but are less common. The rapid growth of the pleural mesothelioma cancer tumors tend to enlarge the pleural space which causes it to be filled with fluid which leads to painful discomfort or pain associated with first detection of the mesothelioma disease.
There was a study involving over 167 patients with proven pleural mesothelioma disease and they found that the median survival rate of mesothelioma disease patients following diagnosis was numbered at 242 days. The survival rate for mesothelioma disease patients was also affected by the type of mesothelioma disease cancer cells and patients with biphasic cell types tend to have the shortest life expectancy known.