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Pericardial mesothelioma is a heart disease
The rarest of the mesothelioma types is pericardial mesothelioma.
This condition is where the cancer affects the heart and the cavity that surrounds it. Similarly to pleural
and peritoneal mesothelioma, this is a fatal illness due to the importance of the area where it grows.
The main cause of pericardial mesothelioma is unprotected exposure to asbestos dust and fibers. Those
construction workers and asbestos manufacturers that have inhaled these deadly fibers are at high risk.
At the same time, those in contact with these people also are likely of getting pericardial mesothelioma
as these exposed people may have asbestos fibers stuck to their hair, skin or clothes.
Currently, it is still unknown why asbestos leads cancer in the mesothelial cells, and it is undeterminated
how many fibers are needed for the cancer tumor to occur. Getting pericardial mesothelioma depends on asbestos
exposure duration and on the concentration of asbestos in the environment. Depending of body resistance it
is possible to get pericardial mesothelioma from as little as a couple of months of asbestos exposure or it
would take good years of dust and fibers inhalation to cause cancer.
The symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma vary from patient to patient. Common symptoms include persistent
coughing, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, chest pain and palpitations. Other symptoms patients may
experience are nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss. Similarly to other types of mesothelioma cancer,
the symptoms typically take around twenty or thirty years to manifest anyway, sometimes even longer.
The effectiveness of treatment is highly dependent on how early the disease is diagnosed and how aggressively
the cancer is treated. If pericardial mesothelioma is treated when it is already fully developed and matured
then the survival chances are minimal. In that case, the prognosis could be only a couple of months.
The two very common forms of treatment for pericardial mesothelioma are chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Occasionally, pericardial mesothelioma can be treated with surgery.
NOTE: The Information on this site is provided for information only,
and is not meant to substitute for the advice of a professional.
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