There are three types of the asbestos related cancer known as mesothelioma: pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lungs, peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the abdominal region, and pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the heart. While the majority of those diagnosed with mesothelioma are diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, there are a small percentage of sufferers who are diagnosed with the rarest form of this cancer, which is pericardial mesothelioma.
Like the other forms of this asbestos related cancer, pericardial mesothelioma can take several decades to develop from the time of exposure, with the average latency period being between twenty and forty years. This means that those people who may have contracted this form of cancer while working with asbestos in the 1970s, may not even be aware that they have the cancer, as symptoms may not yet have developed.
Pericardial mesothelioma is where the lining that surrounds the heart and provides protection and lubrication is attacked by cancer cells. There are a number of symptoms associated with pericardial mesothelioma, including persistent coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, and palpitations. These are symptoms that you should look out for if you have worked with asbestos in the past, and should you experience any of these symptoms, it is important to seek medical assistance as early as possible.
As with the other forms of mesothelioma, the symptoms associated with pericardial mesothelioma can be very non-specific, and this means that they could easily be put down to one of a range of more common illnesses, which increases the risk of a misdiagnosis. If you have worked with asbestos, you should therefore make your doctor aware of this fact, as this can help to speed up diagnosis should these symptoms manifest.
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