What Is Mesothelioma?
Malignant Mesothelioma: Cancer of the Mesothelium
"Malignant" refers to the condition being cancerous, as opposed to benign (or non cancerous).
"Mesothelioma" is a tumor arising out of the mesothelium. In other words, mesothelioma is cancer of the mesothelium.
The mesothelium is a thin membrane that surrounds several organs and body cavities. These membranes form a sac-like shape around various organs and body cavities:
- pleura (around the lungs and chest),
- perioneum (around the abdomen and the organs located there),
- pericardium (surrounding the heart), and
- internal reproductive organs (in men, this membrane is the tunica vaginalis testi, and in women, the tunica serosa uteri).
The mesothelium is made up of a single layer of mesothelial cells supported by a thin membrane. Mesothelial membranes are a single, continuous layer that folds over on itself, like a deflated balloon. These cells produce a fluid which lubricates the layers of the mesothelium.
When mesothelial cells become abnormal and began to divide without reason or control, this is known as mesothelioma.
How asbestos fibers cause this alteration in mesothelial cells from normal to abnormal is not totally known.
Need more than the basics? Learn more about malignant mesothelioma.