Workers who have handled asbestos may eventually develop mesothelioma. No amount of workplace exposure is safe, but workers years ago had more risk. Historically, companies didn’t always provide proper training and safety gear for workers.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that begins in the lining of the organs and then metastasizes or spreads to other parts of the body. It can take decades after someone’s initial exposure to asbestos for mesothelioma to develop.
Mesothelioma takes a long time to develop, but it tends to grow quickly after an individual’s diagnosis. After it does, the person’s health can begin to decline quite rapidly. There are several different types of mesothelioma, with two forms accounting for the vast majority of all cases diagnosed in the United States. What are the most common types of mesothelioma currently found in modern patients?
Pleural mesothelioma
Somewhere between 75 and 80% of all mesothelioma cases involve pleural mesothelioma. This type of mesothelioma begins growing in the lining of the lungs.
People typically report shortness of breath or a cough as one of the early symptoms of this type of mesothelioma. It makes sense that it can often take a while to obtain a diagnosis when someone has pleural mesothelioma unless a doctor is aware of an individual’s history of working with asbestos.
Peritoneal mesothelioma
Mesothelioma can technically develop around other organs as opposed to just the lungs. Peritoneal mesothelioma begins in the lining of the abdominal organs. Approximately 8% of all modern mesothelioma cases begin in the abdominal cavity and then spread elsewhere.
Rare forms of mesothelioma
Two other forms of mesothelioma may affect a minority of the patients diagnosed each year. Pericardial mesothelioma starts in the lining around the heart. Male workers exposed to asbestos can also develop mesothelioma in the lining around the testicles or the tunica vaginalis.
Regardless of where mesothelioma starts, it tends to quickly spread to other parts of the body, putting someone’s health at risk. Those diagnosed with mesothelioma may have grounds to pursue an asbestos-related claim against a former employer.
A successful claim could help someone pay for their treatment or support their loved ones when their health declines. Connecting a mesothelioma diagnosis to workplace asbestos exposure can help people pursue justice.