Rare Forms of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium, which is the thin lining of cells that surrounds organs in the human body. Over 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year, with exposure to asbestos being the cause of this disease. Two of the most often seen forms of mesothelioma are pleural mesothelioma, which involves the lining of the lungs, and peritoneal mesothelioma, which concerns the lining of the abdominal cavity. There are rare forms of mesothelioma, one which has to do with the heart and the other with the scrotum in men and the ovaries in women.

Identification

• Mesothelioma of the reproductive organs in men and women is extremely rare and is technically still a cancer of the abdominal lining, as the lining itself extends into that region. This form of the disease has a poor prognosis, with treatments such as surgery to remove the affected organs followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy often utilized. Even after these treatments patients rarely survive more than 12 to 18 months with this condition. It is often identified from tumors and lumps that are found in the testicles and ovaries but is usually diagnosed at a late stage of the cancer's development.

Time Frame

• Pericardial mesothelioma is the rarest type of the disease. It is responsible for between 5 and 15 percent of asbestos-related cancer fatalities in the United States annually. It is the form of mesothelioma that is linked to very long term exposure to asbestos, with most of the individuals that have it spending the majority of their lives working in close proximity to the mineral. It can take many decades for pericardial mesothelioma to finally show up and once it is diagnosed it is too late. Patients with this form of cancer in its advanced stages are given between 6 weeks and a year to live.

Warning

• Mesothelioma involving the heart lining is a most painful condition with symptoms such as chest pain, coughing constantly, difficulty breathing and heart palpitations. These signs often mislead doctors into thinking that the problem is a different illness and delays a diagnosis. Anyone who works with asbestos or is exposed to it often should have a check-up on a regular basis, which would improve the odds of the disease being detected before it has gone into its latter stages.

Prevention/Solution

• Unfortunately pericardial mesothelioma is too often discovered in late stage. Treatment for this condition is called palliative care, a medical term which means the treatment is not focusing on a cure but rather is attempting to ease the discomfort of the patient and perhaps slow the advance of the disease. Surgery is hardly ever an option for this rare form of mesothelioma, but radiation therapy along with chemotherapy can be of some use. Surgery can be tried if the disease is found early enough, with the cancerous portions of the pericardium actually being removed.

Theories/Speculation

• Asbestos fibers that are inhaled and swallowed are the cause of mesothelioma, making their way into the lungs and abdominal cavity in most cases, where they cause the growth of cancerous cells. Scientists do not know for sure how the disease begins in the pericardium, but theorize that asbestos fibers and particles in the lungs make their way over time into the bloodstream and become lodged in the area of the heart, where over time they cause the cancer of this organ's lining.