Therein lies the problem!With prolonged exposure to asbestos you can sustain gradual but serious damage to your lungs.
The medical term 'mesothelioma' relates to the area of your body that is affected by the asbestos fibers when you inhale them. The 'mesothelium' is a two-layered membrane that protects most of your internal organs.
One of these layers envelopes the organ, and the other layer forms a sac around the organ and the first layer to protect it even further. In between these two layers is a volume of fluid that lubricates everything, and allows flexible movement so that the heart can beat and the lungs can expand and contract without rubbing against other structures in your body.
The 'peritoneal' mesothelium covers the abdominal cavity, and the 'pleural' mesothelium covers and protects the lungs and the chest cavity, whereas the 'pericardial' mesothelium protects the heart. When you inhale asbestos into your lungs, the cells around these inhaled fibers become abnormal or cancerous. And these rogue cells damage the tissue and the organs near the site of invasion. Because asbestos is inhaled, most cases of mesothelioma start in the pleural or the peritoneal mesothelium (because they are the closest to the lungs).
The three most common diseases caused by asbestos are 'asbestosis' (a non-cancerous form of lung disease), lung cancer and mesothelioma (a cancer that starts within the layers of the mesothelium). The symptoms of mesothelioma do not appear for years after exposure (sometimes as long as 50 years later), and may begin as shortness of breath or pain in the chest. These symptoms come from a build-up of fluid in the pleural cavity. If the disease is in the peritoneal mesothelium, your symptoms may start as weight loss and abdominal pain as your abdomen fills with fluid.
To diagnose mesothelioma, your doctor will look for a history of exposure to asbestos at work or at home and he will perform a physical, including x-rays and possibly a lung function test. He may order a CT (CAT) scan or MRI to get more information. Ultimately, your doctor will need to take a biopsy to positively confirm that mesothelioma is present. A surgeon will remove a small sample of tissue from your body so that it can be tested and examined for disease.
If you have mesothelioma, your doctor will try to figure out what 'stage' the disease is in - in other words, how long have you had the disease - so he can determine how best to treat the disease. Treatments include surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy or a combination of these treatments. Your doctor will talk to you about the possible tests for mesothelioma, your specific test results and his treatment recommendations.
Source : www.articlecircle.com/health/diseases-and-conditions/cancer/what-is-mesothelioma-and-how-did-i-get-it.html