Mesothelioma is a very dangerous illness, for many reasons. The principal: it only appears between 20 or 50 years after its exposure to asbestos. there are typical symptoms that we should remark for mesothelioma: shortness of breath, cough, pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space, are symptoms for what we call "plural mesothelioma", the one that affects the pleuaral section of the body.

As for pertioneal mesothelioma, we can mention very deep swelling and constan loss of weight. As mesothelioma is a cancer, it may spread all throughout the body, and pain, trouble for swallowing and swelling in the face should be also noted as possible symptoms.

Why is it so difficult to diagnose the illness? Because, as you can see, the sympotms are very common to many illnesses, such as cold, fever or simple cough. and as we are talking about a cancer, this can be very dangerous to the person suffering from it, as in cancer all is a matter of time: without being noticed, it may be spreading all over the body, leading to a mortal end.

Several epidemiological studies have associated exposure to asbestos with the development of lessions such as asbestos bodies in the sputum, carcinoma of the lung and larynx, gastrointestinal tumours, and diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum.

The documented presence of asbestos fibres in water supplies and food products came up with concerns about the possible impact of long-term and, as yet, unknown exposure of the general population to these fibres. Although many authorities consider brief or transient exposure to asbestos fibres as inconsequential and an unlikely risk factor, some epidemiologists claim that there is no risk. Cases of mesothelioma have been found in people whose only exposure was breathing the air through ventilation systems. this can be also very complicated, as you may never know that you were exposed to such a thing.

There are some treatments that can be taken for mesothelioma, though in general they are all very risky:

-traditional therapies: it proved wrong, only between 6 and 12 months of life was given to the patients who entered this treatment.

-Surgery, either by itself or used in combination with pre- and post-operative adjuvant therapies, has proved disappointing. A pleurectomy/decortication is the most common surgery, in which the lining of the chest is removed. It is not possible to remove the entire mesothelium without killing the patient.

-radiation: For patients with localized disease, and who can tolerate a radical surgery, radiation is often given post-operatively as a consolidative treatment. The entire hemi-thorax is treated with radiation therapy, often given simultaneously with chemotherapy. This approach of using surgery followed by radiation with chemotherapy has been pioneered by the thoracic oncology team at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Delivering radiation and chemotherapy after a radical surgery has led to extended life expectancy in selected patient populations with some patients surviving more than 5 years. As part of a curative approach to mesothelioma, radiotherapy is also commonly applied to the sites of chest drain insertion, in order to prevent growth of the tumor along the track in the chest wall.

Although mesothelioma is generally resistant to curative treatment with radiotherapy alone, palliative treatment regimens are sometimes used to relieve symptoms arising from tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel. Radiation therapy when given alone with curative intent has never been shown to improve survival from mesothelioma. The necessary radiation dose to treat mesothelioma that has not been surgically removed would be very toxic.

In general, it is very difficult to outlive mesothelioma, as it affects the whole organism and it gives no specific signs of its existence. Medicine has been developing, but has not yet found the best way to deal with this mortal disease.