Mesothelioma is not a very old disease, the first cases being recorded in the first part of the 20th century, after the First World War. There a few common knowledge facts about it, for example, the fact it is mainly caused by asbestos exposure (inhaling or swallowing the tiny asbestos fibers) and the fact it occurs mostly in workers from certain industry branches.
History of Mesothelioma
The first mesothelioma patients present in records were those of the early 1920's Britain, working in factories. A high number of these workers started developing lung cancer and eventually died because of the lack of medical skills at the time. After a period and after several technology advances doctors noticed that the people with this kind of disease were working in a rich asbestos dust environment that was very easy to swallow or inhale.
After this, mesothelioma cases started to appear in people working in mining facilities that were also exposed to asbestos dust or crushed rocks. Doctors of the time tried to cure mesothelioma disease but weren't successful. The problem was that the high number of lung cancer cases was firstly thought to be caused by the heavy use of tobacco and asbestos exposure was overseen as a cause.
Mesothelioma and medical history
Mesothelioma has only been known as a cancer type in the sixties, and since than medical journals and recorded documents has been describing it as a very rare disease with the only known cause asbestos.
Since then, mesothelioma experts have been trying to develop a cure for the disease and provide with clear statistics of the cancer. This has been helpful for present researchers because they were able to develop asbestos treatment methods effective enough to allow doctors and patients to hope for a mesothelioma cure in the near future.
Clinical trials conducted as tests for new treatment methods provided with positive results, and also helped mesothelioma doctors better understand the disease. Diagnosis procedures are also a step forward and will be developed further towards providing doctors with complete information about the case before starting treatment.
Here are several advances in the medical field for mesothelioma:
- surgical procedures are less invasive, and allow for the same results but much shorter recovery periods
- new chemotherapy drugs are more effective and cause almost no harm to healthy tissue
- asbestosis is easier to deal with and can be detected earlier then before
- alternative treatment methods are starting to become very useful for every mesothelioma patient, but only under close professional supervision
Please feel free to contact asbestosis and mesothelioma centers with any questions. Remember, receiving information is absolutely free.