This type of mesothelioma attacks the lining surrounding the heart and amounts to around 5% of all cases reported each year. The people who are diagnosed with this disease are typically those who worked long term with asbestos or in buildings that were thick with the material. The prognosis once the disease is discovered in the pericardium is quite grim.
You may have as few as six weeks to live and typically no more than one year. Anyone who had long term exposure to asbestos (10 years or more) should have regular pulmonary checks to rule out the possibility of pericardial mesothelioma. Even though they are similar to the symptoms of many illnesses, you want to get checked out if you have had any exposure to asbestos.
As with all other types of mesothelioma, you may be diagnosed before any symptoms show up but there are symptoms you should look out for anyway, these include:
- Heart palpitations
- Chest pains
- Shortness of breath
- Persistent cough
Pericardial mesothelioma is almost always detected at the more advanced stages. Once detected, there is very little treatment that can be offered and all that can be done is make the patient comfortable by relieving the symptoms. By this point the doctors strive to improve the quality of life left rather than make attempts at false hope of a cure for this most ravaging form of mesothelioma.
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