What is “Mesothelioma�

Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma is cancer of mesothelium.

Cancer arising from the mesothelium have been described as arising from the

Pleura - the thin membrane which line the internal organ in thoracic cavity cover the lungs, line under the ribs and line the inside of the thoracic wall.
Peritoneum – the thin membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal cavity cover many organs inthe abdomen such as stomach liver spleen colon etc.
Tunica vaginalis of testis – membrane that cover the testis
Pericardium – membrane that cover the heart and its vessels.

Although the mesothelioma can developed in many region of our body but the most common site of this cancer is pleura.

Mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to asbestos; approximately 70-75 % of case are associated with documented asbestos exposure in many reports.


This type of tumor can be described as “Primary tumorâ€�.

Primary tumor is a tumor that grows at that anatomical site. In contrast, secondary tumor or metastasis is a tumor that grows in one organ and spread to another non-adjacent organ. So,Mesothelioma can be defined as primary tumor.


The primary tumors of the pleura constitute a group of rare disease. In contrast, metastases to the pleura are relatively common manifestation of many cancers.

The diagnosis and management of Mesothelioma and other lung and pleural cancers present important but often difficult challenges for the physicians

The prognosis of malignant mesothelioma is poor despite attempts with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy and the disease is always fatal.

Malignant mesothelioma is a difficult cancer to management because of two major reasons :


Low prevalence of this disease ; In many countries the incidence of documented new cases being diagnosed mesothelioma is only 9 case per million people in one year, so the study about diagnosis and management of this disease cannot be developed enough and continuously.
Prolong latency period ; latency period is the period from asbestos exposure until the diagnosis is made.The natural history of mesothelioma the latency period can be more than 20-25 years and the symptoms of mesothelioma in early phase is not specified, so the diagnosis can be delay.

According to these reasons, the development of curing strategies of mesothelioma is still difficult but many physicians, clinicians and scientist still do hard work to find new information about treatment to decrease the mortality and morbidity rate of this disease.


Nowadays,there are many reports about new therapeutic strategies, drugs, management of this disease and their good results

So, advances and new technologies in the management, diagnosis and therapeutic can potentially change the natural history and course of this chronic fetal disease.

http://lungcancer-mesothelioma.blogspot.co m/2011/06/what-is-mesothelioma.html