Course of disease
The course of the disease of the pleural mesothelioma is particularly rapid and, in the case of a malignant cell type, also very aggressive in its growth. In most cases, the patient has been inhaling asbestos for many years, which may have caused asbestosis. Decades later, the general condition of the patient usually decreases first and then the specific symptoms appear.
Unfortunately, when the disease is diagnosed, it is often so far advanced that the cancer cells have spread and scattered to the surrounding tissue. In the majority of cases, the cause of death is such massive local growth in the lung membrane that it is no longer compatible with life.
