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| An Overview of Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Mesothelioma is one of the rarest of cancers that is threatening mankind today. With all the advancement that has been made in the fields of science and technology the best that medical scientists are able to do is to make the remaining life of the person suffering from mesothelioma less painful and more comfortable. Mesothelioma is the cancer of the mesothelium, which is a protective sac around majority of the human body’s organs. Peritoneal Mesothelioma is one kind of this dreaded cancer.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is one of the rarest types of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is generally caused by overexposure to a mineral called asbestos. In peritoneal mesothelioma the asbestos fibers get lodged in the peritoneal part of the mesothelium, which is the region covering the abdomen. How exactly do the asbestos particles reach there is a matter of debate though. There are two ways through which the asbestos can reach the peritoneal region. One way is that the asbestos particles are directly ingested into the abdominal region or the asbestos particles get transported through the lymph node system into the peritoneal region.
The peritoneal mesothelioma is difficult to detect in the earlier stages as the asbestos particles remain dormant for a very long time say 30-40 years. Some of the symptoms of mesothelioma are abdominal swelling, weight loss, and pain because of ascites. The treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma has not been proven successful with conventional methods. Other methods like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are used which can be partially successful depending upon the patient’s medical history and the extent of expansion of the disease.
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