Mesothelioma is type of cancer which is relatively rare. It and affects about one in a million people. Its usual cause is exposure to asbestos.

The symptoms of this cancer sometimes include difficulty in breathing due to liquid which builds up in the lungs, pain in the chest as well as less specific symptoms including loss of weight, high temperature and pains in the abdomen, head and neck. The symptoms might not be present at all until up to 50 years after the asbestos exposure. Diagnosis of the disease can be helped by a CT scan or chest X-ray, and could be verified by a biopsy (tissue sample).

Smoking is not known as a cause of mesothelioma itself, but it can increase the risk of the disease alongside asbestos exposure. The usual cause of the disease is breathing in the dust of asbestos. This can happen while working or indirectly such as while doing the laundry of a person who works with the chemical.

Recovery from the disease is not common, and median survival times is about 9 months from presentation (with the 5-year survival rate being about 10%), although a few people do survive for more than 20 years after having the disease. Some patients have survived more than 5 years after having radical surgery plus chemo and radiation therapy, but radiation therapy alone has proved ineffective.

Most patients die within 18 months of knowing they have this disease not because the disease is rapidly progressing, but because diagnosis is often only clear at a late stage of the disease. Treatment can be expensive, sometimes totaling up to around a million US dollars.

Legal action about the disease started in 1929 and more than five hundred thousand claims have been filed so far. The highest mortality rate from the disease is in the ship-building and repairing industries, because of the extensive use of asbestos on ships. There are specialist attorneys and lawyers who handle legal action. The amounts received from a claim can be considerable.

Prognosis for the disease is usually poor, despite available treatments.

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Mesothelioma affects one person in about a million typically, and is a type of cancer which is not common. It is usually caused by asbestos exposure.

While smoking does not itself cause the disease, when combined with asbestos exposure it has been shown to increase the risk of this disease being contracted in the lung area. Mesothelioma is sometimes called “asbestos poisoning” because that is how it is caused. The exposure can be either direct exposure to asbestos dust, or indirect such as when washing clothes of a person who works with this chemical.

The symptoms of this disease are many and varied. They might include breathing difficulties due to build-up of fluid in the lungs, as well as fever, loss of weight and pain in the chest, abdomen or even head and neck. The symptoms might not appear for many decades after the exposure to asbestos. Diagnosis is sometimes supported by chest X-ray or CT scan, and can be confirmed by examination of a small piece of the affected tissue (called a biopsy).

Recovery from the disease is not common, and median survival times is about 9 months from presentation (with the 5-year survival rate being about 10%), although a few people do survive for more than 20 years after having the disease. Some patients have survived more than 5 years after having radical surgery plus chemo and radiation therapy, but radiation therapy alone has proved ineffective.

It is common for someone to die within one and a half years of knowing that they have this disease. This is because the diagnosis is so difficult until the late stages rather than because the disease progresses rapidly. Treatments can often be expensive. Sometimes the total cost for treatment is around a million dollars.

Legal action about the disease started in 1929 and more than five hundred thousand claims have been filed so far. The highest mortality rate from the disease is in the ship-building and repairing industries, because of the extensive use of asbestos on ships. There are specialist attorneys and lawyers who handle legal action. The amounts received from a claim can be considerable.

The prognosis for the disease is typically not good, even given the currently available treatments.

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