Malignant mesothelioma is a cancer that is unlike all others in many ways. One of the most notable and frustrating of these is that mesotheliomasrisks continue to rise as more time passes from exposure to asbestos. This is in direct contrast to other types of cancers: for example, when a smoker quits smoking, every day that goes by without a cigarette their risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer decreases. The same is true for those who give up other harmful exposures or who change sedentary lifestyles to more active ones.

This has long been suspected in the mesothelioma research community, and was recently confirmed by a study conducted by Polish scientists at the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine. Their study was comprehensive, comparing information from 131 patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma to a control group of 655 patients enrolled over a 14-year period in a health surveillance program specifically targeting asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer.

The researchers found that the moretime went by followingasbestos exposure, the higher the risk of a later diagnosis of the disease. The scientists report said in part, The results show that the risk of pleural mesothelioma continued to increase even after 40 years since the last exposure. The information gathered was also useful in that it identified the types of asbestos that put patients at greatest risk, with blue asbestos, or crocidolite carrying the highest levels of danger and workers who had been exposed to a combination of several different types of asbestos being at a risk five times greater than of those who were exposed to chrysotile asbestos alone.

Theories as to why asbestos behaves so differently from other toxins abound, but the most frequently posited notion has to do with the physical properties of asbestos itself. Unlike nicotine or other inhaled chemicals, asbestos fibers are pointy and sharp. They become embedded in the cells of the body and remain there rather than being expelled. This means that they continue to have the potential for causing mutations and inflammation decades after the fiber is originally inhaled or ingested.

If you have been exposed to asbestos and are concerned about your own risk of being diagnosed with mesothelioma, or if someone you love has already been diagnosed with the disease, you need information on signs, symptoms, and resources that are available to you. At Mesothelioma.net, we are dedicated to providing asbestos exposure victims with the help that they need. Call our Patient Advocates today at 1-800-692-8608, or visit our website at http://www.mesothelioma.net.

Terri Oppenheimer is an independent writer, editor, and proofreader. She graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in English. Her dreams of a writing career were diverted by a need to pay her bills. She spent a few years providing the copy for a major retailer, then landed a lucrative career in advertising sales. With college bills for all three of her kids paid, she left corporate America for a return to her original goal of writing. She specializes in providing content for websites and finds tremendous enjoyment in the things she learns while doing her research. Her specific areas of interest include health and fitness, medical research, and the law.

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Polish Study Confirms That Mesothelioma Risk Only Increases With ... - Mesothelioma.net Blog (blog)