Mesothelioma Attorney

Mesothelioma belongs to a group of cancers known as carcinomas, in which the tumor consists of epithelial cells that have transformed. The site of origin of the mesothelium, the which is the membranous lining of the pleura (thoracic cavity), the heart sac, and other vital organs of the body. The first of these is the most common region affected.

Mesothelioma is a rare disease in general, and even rarer when one excludes people who have been exposed to asbestos. This substance has many uses, including fireproofing and as an ingredient in such products as firefighters’ clothing, brake shoes and pads, caulk, and dental cast linings. Workers who make or use any of these things are at especially high risk for mesothelioma. Sometimes—but only on rare occasions—the disease may have other causes, such as irradiation or thorium dioxide.

The exact role that asbestos plays in causing mesothelioma is not yet fully understood. It is believed that when fibers of asbestos become deposited in the parenchyma, they may penetrate the visceral pleura, and go from there to the surface and form tumors.

Symptoms of the disease often remain dormant for twenty or more years after the person has been exposed to asbestos, before they finally begin to manifest themselves. Typically. the victim of mesothelioma becomes short of breath. This dyspnea is caused by an excess of fluid in the pleura. The patient may also experience pain in the chest wall, feel hoarse, or cough up blood or sputum stained with blood.

There are more extreme symptoms of the disease as well. Tumor masses may develop. The victim’s lung may collapse. And as with cancers in general, the malignant cells may spread to other sites in the body.

More extreme symptoms still include: disseminated intravascular coagulation; blood clots in the veins or lung arteries; jaundice; and pleural effusion.

Tumors associated with mesothelioma may also begin in the abdominal cavity. In such cases, the patient often has a stomachache, suffers from intestinal malfunction, and/or has ascites, or excess serous fluid in the peritoneal cavity.

Malignant mesothelioma has been classified in three histological categories: epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic. Prognosis is best in cases of the first type. The disease is also classed in four stages (1a-4) according to the TNM system (TNM stands for size of the Tumor; lymph Nodes involved; distant Metastasis).

The symptoms of mesothelioma are so similar to those of some other diseases that physicians have great difficulty forming a diagnosis, and often view a patient’s medical history for exposure to asbestos. The doctor also performs a biopsy, taking tissue from the affected site and examining it under a microscope to determine its nature. Prognosis for mesothelioma is difficult.

Like all cancers, mesothelioma may be treated with drugs, radiation, or surgery—or by a combination of any two of the three. In fact, patients have been shown to have a better chance of survival when all three methods are used. Surgery—which is rarely effective when used by itself—may involve one of two newly developed operations specially designed for mesothelioma—pleurectomy/decortication, which removes the gross visible tumor but not the section of the lung beneath, and extrapleural pneumonectomy, in which the hemi-pericardium and the diaphragm are also taken out. Radiation is applied to the whole hemi-thorax, and sometimes also to the place where a chest tube has been inserted. Drugs that have been used to treat mesothelioma include cisplatin, pemetrexed, raltixetred, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine; certain combinations of these drugs, e.g. cisplatin and raltixetred, have proven particularly effective.

Two other methods of treatment have been applied to patients with mesothelioma. One is immunotherapy, including the use of interleukin-2. The other is called heated intra-operative intra-peritoneal chemotherapy, in which a surgeon injects a heated medicine immediately after cutting out as much of the tumor as possible. Multi-modality therapy may also be used.

Because of the role of asbestos in causing mesothelioma, many nations, including members of the European Union, have banned its use completely, and Japan is still in the process of outlawing it.

The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, formed in 1999, aims to eliminate mesothelioma through “research, support, education, and advocacy.” It is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California.