Mesothelioma Symptoms

Mesothelioma is a lethal form of cancer that attacks an internal membrane called the mesothelium, which serves to cover and protect several organs in the body, as well as the walls of the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity. The disease takes root in three principal areas.Pleural mesothelioma develops in the pleural membranes, which are two layers of the mesothelium that cover the chest cavity wall and that wrap around the outer surface of the lungs. Peritoneal mesothelioma develops in the abdomen; specifically in the peritoneum, which is a section of the mesothelium that covers the abdominal cavity wall. The most unusual form of the disease, pericardial mesothelioma, attacks the portion of the mesothelium that forms a sac around the heart.

The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. Hundreds of thousands of American workers were exposed to asbestos products on the job during the twentieth century. Asbestos products were taken off the market in the United States, for the most part, by 1980; but prior to that time asbestos was a highly popular and widely used mineral incorporated into construction, industrial and manufacturing products – and into some consumer products as well. Asbestos insulation could be found in millions of American homes and in every ship the Navy commissioned from 1930 to about 1975. It was used in cement, wallboard, joint compound flooring, roofing, adhesives, auto and truck brakes, and hundreds of other products.

Workers who were around asbestos products that were worn or deteriorating or that were mangled in some fashion would be exposed to microscopic asbestos fibers that would separate and take to the air in dust clouds or industrial waste. Those fibers were inhaled or in some cases ingested unknowingly, causing the development of mesothelioma or asbestos is decades later. Family members who were exposed to asbestos fibers that came home on work clothes and shoes also developed the disease.