Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects the lining of organs located in the abdomen, called peritoneum. Therefore, medical experts refer to this health condition as mesothelioma of the peritoneum. People commonly think that mesothelioma is a type of lung cancer, but that’s actually a misconception. Another commonly used term for mesothelioma is asbestos lung cancer, which is also technically incorrect. Mesothelioma primarily affects membranes, also called linings. These membranes surround numerous organs located in the chest and abdomen.

The most frequently seen type of mesothelioma is the so called pleural mesothelioma, which affects the outer lining of the lungs. After that, peritoneal mesothelioma ranks number two. Out of 100 mesothelioma patients, we find 20 with peritoneal mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. Unlike pleural mesothelioma, for peritoneal mesothelioma we still don’t know exactly how the toxic asbestos fibers get trapped in the peritoneum

One theory suggests that those particles get broken down into even smaller pieces and are then carried from the lungs through the blood stream into the abdominal lining. Other experts lean towards the explanation, that the fibers and dust particles get ingested through food. Once the substance gets lodged in the peritoneum a process of chronic inflammation begins which eventually leads to malignancy and cancer.

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma may also spread to the testicles; however, this only occurs on rare occasions.

All forms of mesothelioma have long incubation periods and sometimes we see cases where a patient exhibits the first symptoms 40 or 50 years after his initial contact with asbestos. Unfortunately, this form of cancer is fatal, since a cure is yet to be found. Current treatments have the focus on helping the patient to maintain a certain quality of life, but show only occasionally a slow down in the progression of the disease.

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