Learn About Malignant Mesothelioma Diagnosis from Asbestos and Treatment

Malignant mesothelioma diagnosis from asbestos exposure, however, has no correlation to smoking.

Apart from a very small portion which is believed to be the “basal level” of the disease and the very rare cases that are due to other known causes (for instance radiation), all cases can be considered to be a cause of exposure to asbestos (or erionite).

The tumor arises in the pleura and grows slowly there, compressing the lung and in later stages invading the ribs and causing the death of the patient often within a year of diagnosis. Rare cases occur, however, with many years of survival.

No curative treatment exists, though some cytostatics seem to have some effect on the tumor.

The disease is dose-related but even a slight exposure can be enough. Like pleural plaques, the latency time is usually more than 30 years.

Rarely, the disease starts in the peritoneum. Thus, two findings – pleural plaques and malignant mesothelioma – are useful as “sentinel” diseases, indicating that asbestos (or erionite) exposure has occurred in the cohort.