Benign Mesothelioma

The fortunate few mesothelioma patients who contract benign mesothelioma have a disease that develops tumors or cysts on the mesothelium which are not malignant. These fibrous growths occur in much the same pattern as malignant mesothelioma growths, developing as a diffuse pattern of small growths across the mesothelium surface. They can occur on the mesothelium surface that lines the lungs and the chest wall, causing pleural disease or they can develop in the abdominal cavity on that portion of the mesothelium called the peritoneum.

Pleural Benign Mesothelioma

Although these growths are benign, they are nonetheless abnormal growths that can create a number of physical conditions leading to difficult symptoms. If this condition, sometimes called benign multicystic mesothelioma, persists over a wide area on the membrane surfaces in the chest cavity it can result in pressure on the lungs which leads to both chest pain and reduced lung capacity. Most often the growth is localized, being a single tumor larger than the diffuse small tumors that characterize malignant mesothelioma. Benign mesothelioma of the pleura can also lead to pleural effusion, the development of excess fluid in the area between the lungs and the chest wall; and between the lungs and the diaphragm.

About half of all patients who develop benign mesothelioma do not develop symptoms at all. Those that do develop systems as the result of fluid accumulation or pressure from the growths experience these common symptoms:

• Chronic Cough
• Chest Pain
• Shortness of Breath
• Fatigue

Benign Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Cystic mesothelioma in the abdominal cavity is a rare condition, as is malignant mesothelioma which occurs in about twenty percent of all mesothelioma diagnoses. The definition of the disease calls the tumor-like growths “a neoplasm of small, liquid filled tumor-like cysts”. While this condition may not cause the accumulation of fluid, it is possible for the accumulation of cysts to develop a large mass, resulting in a distended abdomen and abdominal pain. Development of this condition in the abdominal cavity can result in the cysts enveloping portions of the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and the kidneys. Diagnosis of the condition is most effectively accomplished through the use of a CT scan, because these images can differentiate between types of tumors and the precise location of the growth, differentiating from ovarian cysts or growths on other internal organs.

Treatment for Benign Mesothelioma

The most effective treatment of this condition is surgical resection of the growths. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy have no impact on the condition and surgical intervention usually leads to thorough results, unless there are tumors that have attached themselves to adjacent organs – which is not uncommon in the benign peritoneal growths. Also in the abdominal variation there is a fairly high rate of recurrence; between 33% and 50% with more women experiencing this phenomenon than men. With pleural benign mesothelioma the rate of recurrence is about 10%. In either case it is possible for the disease to be malignant when it develops a second time.

Sources:

1. Medline Plus, National Institutes of Health, August 2008, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000116.htm
2. Benign Cystic Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Journal of Clinical Pathology, September 1993, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC501528/pdf/jclinpath00210-0083.pdf
3. Localized Benign Pleural Mesothelioma: A Case Report, National Library of Medicine, June 2003, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14635508&dopt=Abstract