Pleural mesotheslioma is thought to be associated with exposure to blue asbestos.
Pleural mesothelioma spreads within the chest cavity, sometimes involving the lung. This is different from lung cancer, which refers to any type of malignant tumor that originates in the lungs.
Pleural mesothelioma expresses itself ultimately as the body's reaction to imbedded fibrous asbestos, which lies dormant yet indestructible for decades before creating a cascade of sinister life threatening symptoms. Initial health decline related to pleural mesothelioma includes a diverse symtomology such as
Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms are as follows:
  • Chest pain and lower back pain
  • fatigue
  • A persistent cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Swelling of the face and extremities.
  • A hoarse or husky voice
  • Weight loss
  • Swelling of the thoracic cavity due to excess fluid build up or the growth of a tumor
  • Sweating and fevers
  • Difficulty in swallowing
The pleura, a tissues lining or pleura is a covering that surrounds the lungs. There are two kinds of pleura. These two pleura can be called pleural membranes. The gap between these two pleura is called the pleural space. The pleura are fibrous sheets. Some of the benefits of pleura are as follows:
  • Pleura help to protect the lungs.
  • Pleura produce a lubricating fluid that fills the gap between the 2 pleura. This helps the lungs to move smoothly in the chest when they are inflating and deflating as we breathe.
There are limited recovery strategies for pleural mesothelioma. There are no proven drug compounds or therapies to reverse the cancer once activated. Naturally, taking rest and following dietary discipline is recommended. Other carcinogenic componds and factors such as tobacco products are prohibited.

Researchers on helath are stymied to explain the relation between asbestos and pleural mesothelioma and a probably related lung Cancer incidence factor. People those who smoke and who have been exposed to asbestos, have a 90 times high risk for developing lung Cancerthan. Smoking, however, does not feature in the cause-and-effect chain leading to pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos occupies a key "trigger" position in both ailments. It may provide special activations to these ailments due to the presence of smoking.

The start of mesothelioma is usually very slow, the most common presenting symptom is persistent pain localized in the chest. Sometimes the pain is accompanied by severe difficulty breathing, due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space known as pleural effusion. Cough, weight loss and fever are also common. The most valuable single test to show the extent of the disease is a computed chest tomograph (CT-scan).

There are currently no serum markers available for the diagnosis of mesothelioma. The detection of elevated serum levels of hyaluronic acid may be useful in differentiating mesotheliomas from other tumors, or to follow the effect of treatment.

The median survival is about 17 months from the beginning of symptoms. The 3-year survival is 10% the 5-year survival is approximately 5% ( if 100 patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma at a specific point in time, that means that 10 patients will still be alive at the end of 3 years and 5 patients will only be alive at the end of 5 years).