Lung mesothelioma may be also follow the same general path ...

Like lung cancers caused by smoking, lung mesothelioma?starts with exposure to an environmental toxin ? in this case, usually a very fine form of asbestos, amphibole asbestos. Like all asbestos, this mineral flakes off in fibers that can be woven. Unlike the other forms, amphibole asbestos also forms very short, very fine dustlike fibers that are easy to inhale or ingest.

Most people with mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos much earlier in life while working in a construction, mechanical, or mining job. For instance, shipyard workers during World War II were heavily exposed to asbestos sprayed on naval vessels during their construction. Miners for minerals that have nothing to do with asbestos may cut through layers of the mineral during the course of their work. Automobile mechanics who change out brakes may be exposed to asbestos even today from brake pad dust.

Some asbestos exposure is from more mysterious beginnings. Housewives who washed their construction worker husband?s clothes may inhale a larger dose of asbestos from their laundry than the husband did on the job. In some regions, the gravel debris from asbestos mines was used, unbelievably, to pave playgrounds and city streets; in one small Australian town, half of all deaths were due to mesothelioma, a result of long-ago gravel paving.

Regardless of how asbestos is ingested, the course of mesothelioma always follows the same general path. The fine asbestos fibers easily penetrate porous lung air sacs, working their way through soft tissues without damage until they reach the mesothelium, a tough leathery sac that contains the internal organs. Here the asbestos is stopped, but because the fibers are so small, the human body recognizes them as bacterial or parasitic invaders. In numerous tiny sites, small pockets of infection form, but the body cannot break down asbestos, so it never goes away. Scar tissue builds up over time, and eventually one or more cells undergoes the genetic changes necessary to form cancer.

Even when cancer does not form, the scar tissue makes the mesothelium tougher over time. Thirty years of scarring makes this flexible and stretchy organ attain the texture of an orange peel. A good CT scan can always detect mesothelioma past a certain point, even if cancer has not developed.

Source: http://www.mesotheliomai.com/lung-mesothelioma-may-be-also-follow-the-same-general-path/

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