Mesothelioma cancer, which is classified into three according to the area infected by each of these, is caused by asbestos particles inhaled mostly at workplaces.  The three types are the pleural mesothelioma (that affects the mesothelium around the lung cavities), the peritoneal (found in the lining of the abdomen) and the pericardial (which attacks the heart cavities).  The former, which attacks the lining of the lungs, is also called asbestos lung mesothelioma because it affects the lung cavities and is caused by asbestos.

The pleural mesothelioma is surely a life threatening disease. It may also happen that the infection spreads all long the lung and it has to be removed. The fine fibers of asbestos settle down in the pleural linings. It triggers some chemical reactions resulting in harmful cell division. As a consequence pleural effusion and thickening of the layer happens obstructing the easy motion of the lungs causing breathing problems. The infection may take years and decades to reach this advanced stage.

Mesothelioma diagnosis is not an easy task, especially if the doctor handling the case is not a skilled person. Many symptoms resulting from this cancer are like the symptoms of other diseases like pneumonia. Sometimes mesothelioma cases are detected when the patient goes for some other treatments. An expert doctor would not hesitate to ask the work and health history of the patient before proceeding to other tests.

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There are many symptoms of asbestos lung mesothelioma. They are shortness of breath, fatigue, chronic cough, loss of body weight, night sweat, fever etc. In some patients only a few symptoms would be visible. Yet few others would be free of symptoms. This has often led to lots of confusion in diagnosis. Failure in detection and wrong detection are equally harmful.

The most common symptoms of asbestos lung mesothelioma is shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue at the least exertion, loss of body weight for no assumable reason, fever, night sweat etc.  Some patients may show only two or three of these while some others would remain totally free of symptoms.  This character of the cancer has often resulted in failure to detect or wrong diagnosis which eventually confounds the situation.  If the infection is only at the initial stages, doctors prefer conventional treatments like surgery.  If required, additional therapies like chemotherapy to preempt the spread of the cancer further and radiation therapy to remove the remnants of cancer through high energy or particle beams are also resorted to.

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