Mesothelioma is a cancer of the cells that make up the lining around the outside of the lungs and inside of the ribs or around the abdominal organs.

Mesothelioma is normally caused by the exposure to asbestos fibers. What is asbestos? Asbestos is the name for a group of naturally occurring silicate minerals that can be separated into fibers. The fibers are strong, durable, and resistant to heat and fire. They are also long, thin and flexible, so that they can even be woven into cloth.

Because of these qualities, asbestos has been used in many consumer and industrial products. There are commercial asbestos fibers such as white asbestos, brown asbestos and blue asbestos that cause more damage to the lungs when you inhale the fibers.

Many school buildings in Asia have asbestos roof. These buildings have asbestos roof mainly because of its thermal insulation capability. These roofs pose real danger to children.

Homes in many western countries have small amount of asbestos in their ceilings, again mainly for thermal insulation. These kinds of ceilings are called “cottage cheese” ceilings. All of them have asbestos inside the “cheese”. Many builders and real estate agents advise the clients to make sure that they don’t inhale the particles that fall off from the ceiling. We are talking about the buildings that were built 30 years ago. Nowadays, it’s hard to find asbestos in new homes.

If you suspect that you might be affected by this disease it’s best to go for early screening. There is no definite cure for this disease. Although it’s a rare disease many researchers are trying to find the cure for this.

A study presented by Dr. Raja M. Flores of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York evaluated the feasibility of using the FDG-PET standardized uptake value (SUV) to predict survival of the patients. Of the 65 patients evaluated, 54 were men and 11 were women; the median age was 65 years. The median SUV in the 46 patients with epithelioid disease was 6.5; the median SUV in patients with mixed disease was 6.8; and the median SUV of patients with sarcomatous disease was 3.8.

A nearly perfect inverse relationship was seen between SUV and survival, such that a greater SUV correlated with a shorter survival.

According to Dr. Nicholas J. Vogelzang, Chemotherapy now has an established role in the treatment of Mesothelioma. Almost everyone, even if they’re surgical candidates, should get chemotherapy. Also, giving chemotherapy in the second line is valuable and needs to be tested in a prospective trial setting. If you give a second round after the first one doesn’t work, you still get a benefit.

Read more about New Directions for the Treatment of Mesothelioma.