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Mesothelioma cancer is categorized into three according to the area in which the infection occurs. It is caused by over exposure to asbestos. The three types of mesothelioma are the pleural mesothelioma, which affects the mesothelium around the lung cavities; the peritoneal, found in the lining of the abdomen; and the pericardial, which attacks the heart cavities. The former one which attacks the lining of the lungs is also called asbestos lung mesothelioma because it infects the cavities of the lung and is caused by asbestos.

The pleural mesothelioma is definitely life-threatening. The infection sometimes spreads all along the lungs forcing the removal of a lung. Inhaled fibers of asbestos settle down in the pleural linings and causes harmful cell activity. The cells divide without order resulting in pleural effusion and thickening of the layer. This prevents easy motion of the lungs and cause breathing problems etc. The time taken for the infection to reach this proportion ranges between several years to decades after exposure to asbestos.

Diagnosing pleural mesothelioma sometimes gets difficult if the doctor handling the case is not adept in the subject. Many symptoms resulting from this cancer are similar to those of many other diseases like pneumonia.

There are many symptoms of asbestos lung mesothelioma. They are shortness of breath, fatigue, chronic cough, loss of body weight, night sweat, fever etc. In some patients only a few symptoms would be visible. Yet few others would be free of symptoms. This has often led to lots of confusion in diagnosis. Failure in detection and wrong detection are equally harmful.

The most common symptoms of asbestos lung mesothelioma is shortness of breath, chronic cough, fatigue at the least exertion, loss of body weight for no assumable reason, fever, night sweat etc. Conventional treatment methods like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are followed to treat the disease in the initial stages. Surgery is used to remove the infection. Additional therapies like chemotherapy prevent the spread of cancer to near by cells and tissues. Radiation therapy is used to remove the remnants of cancer through high energy or particle beams. Palliative treatment is provided to patients who are in the advanced stage of the cancer.