Mesothelioma Lung

Symptoms can include chest pain shortness of breath and general fatigue.

Mesothelioma lung. If you ll be receiving radiation therapy to the chest after surgery this procedure also allows doctors to use higher doses since they won t need to worry about protecting your lung from damaging radiation. The main surgeries used in mesothelioma treatment are. Exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of malignant mesothelioma. The average life expectancy of mesothelioma patients is 12 21 months after diagnosis.

There are about 2 500 to 3 000 cases of it every. Mesothelioma in the lungs pleural mesothelioma this is the most common form of the disease. Mesothelioma most often affects the tissue that surrounds the lungs pleura. These cancers originate in different locations yet cause similar symptoms such as shortness of breath chest pain fatigue and weight loss.

It usually occurs from prior exposure to asbestos a type of mineral fiber used in the insulation industry. The most common is the production of fluid buildup known as a pleural effusion. Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma may. Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that that develops in the pleura a thin membrane that separates the lung from the chest wall.

This type is called pleural mesothelioma. The cells are slow to metastasize or spread and respond more favorably to treatment than other mesothelioma cancer cells. Epithelioid mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure and is the most common form of the disease accounting for 70 80 of diagnoses. Other times it could include pleural based nodules.

Less commonly the lining of the abdomen and rarely the sac surrounding the heart or the sac surrounding the testis may be affected. Doctors divide mesothelioma into different types based on what part of the mesothelium is affected. Both lung cancer and mesothelioma can originate in the pleural space or spread there during the course of the disease. The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall.

Other rarer types of mesothelioma affect tissue in the abdomen peritoneal mesothelioma around the heart and around the testicles. Though malignant pleural mesothelioma affects the lungs it is not considered a type of lung cancer because it forms in the lining around the lungs rather than in the lung tissue. It accounts for about 75 of all mesothelioma cases. Removing the affected lung and the tissue that surrounds it may relieve signs and symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.

This happens when cancerous cells accumulate in the pleural lining and often cause symptoms. Wide local excision which removes the cancer along with some of the healthy surrounding tissue pleurectomy and decortication in which the surgeon removes part of the covering of the lungs chest lining and outside.