Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma is a very rare disease, which is almost impossible to diagnosis in its early stage. Often, peritoneal mesothelioma is diagnosed only during the surgery. In United States the peritoneal mesothelioma has been diagnosed with only couple of hundreds of people each year, which is less while compared to all other Mesothelioma cases.
The malignant peritoneal mesothelioma affects the abdominal lining also called as peritoneum. Peritoneum is a membrane that is made up of two parts, the visceral and parietal peritoneum that supports and covers all organs of the abdomen.
The malignant peritoneal cancer causes the cells in abdomen linings to overproduce fluids that allow organs to move food through the body. These fluids then build-up in excess in the abdominal cavity.
How Peritoneal Mesothelioma Is Caused?
Till now there’s no precise explanation from any one on how peritoneal mesothelioma is caused. However, researches determined that asbestos might be the major cause for peritoneal mesothelioma. A person who works under asbestos fibers environment is most likely to get affected by malignant peritoneal mesothelioma cancer. The asbestos fibers may be easily ingested into the lungs by workers while they breathe, and then the fibers get moved into the peritoneal cavity and peritoneum, which subsequently causes peritoneal mesothelioma cancer.
Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma Symptoms:
Although the incubation period for peritoneal mesothelioma cancer can be 20 to 30 years, it does have some symptoms such as chest pain, weight loss, swelling in abdomen, fever, difficulty in breathing, coughing and bowel obstruction. Often, symptoms vary widely from person to person. So, it’s always better to visit a physician for regular check ups.
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Diagnosis:
When you visit your doctor for diagnosing peritoneal mesothelioma he/she may carry out series of examinations that includes CT scan, X-ray, MRI etc and make sure that you’ve let your doctor know about your work nature as well. Although peritoneal mesothelioma cancer cannot be diagnosed just from visual results, it can however show the tumor development to some extent.
The three major tumor development types that could be seen on CT scan are: The ‘dry-painful’, ‘Wet’ and ‘Mixed’.
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Treatments:
Primary treatment options available for malignant peritoneal mesothelioma cancer include Radiation therapy, Chemotherapy, thoracoscopic pleurodesis and surgery. Although there are no treatments to cure mesothelioma cancer entirely, it is believed that with regular checkups and tests one could surely increase his/her life span considerably.