What are the stages of mesothelioma?

Hi. I was exposed to asbestos, silica and hydrofluoric acid fumes on the job for 10 years (20 yrs ago). In 05 I went into respiratory failure. An open lung biopsy turned up pleural Atypical Mesothelial Hyperplasia. The pulmonologists say it is asbestos related but it won't go any further. The brave people I've talked to who are dealing with mesothelioma say they had Atypical Mesothelial Hyperplasia at one time.

Anyone know the stages of Mesothelioma?? thanks

* Stage 1a mesothelioma affects the outer layer of the pleura around the chest wall, on one side of the chest only. It may have grown in the pleural tissue covering the diaphragm
* Stage 1b mesothelioma has started to spread to the inner pleural layer (closest to the lungs), but remains on one side of the chest.
* Stage 2 mesothelioma has spread to both layers of the pleura on one side of the body, and has enlarged to form a tumour mass on the pleural tissue around the lungs, or has started to spread into the diaphragm muscle or the lung tissue
* Stage 3 mesothelioma has spread to the chest wall or the covering of the heart (pericardium), but is still potentially removable by surgery. Or it has spread to the lymph nodes on the same side of the chest
* Stage 4 mesothelioma cannot be removed by surgery because it has spread to different parts of the chest wall, or grown through the diaphragm into the peritoneum, or to the pleura on the other side of the body, or to the chest organs, or through to the inner layer of the pericardium. Or it has spread to the lymph nodes on the other side of the chest, or above the collarbone. Or has spread to other parts of the body.

Check out the stages here for mesothelioma or asbestos, http://www.meso.tv Report It

Trouble breathing.
Pain under the rib cage.
Pain or swelling in the abdomen.
Lumps in the abdomen.
Weight loss for no known reason.

for more details and to find out how to be tested-treated- or diagnosed go to this : http://www.webmd.com/cancer/tc/Mesotheli...
best wishes.

You do not have mesothelioma. However it looks like atypical mesothelial hyperplasia has the potential to develop into mesothelioma as time goes by. It also appears that it is often very difficult for pathologists to establish a clear difference between mesothelial hyperplasia and early mesothelioma. Scary I know. I have significant asbestos exposure myself.

Here is an interesting full text article on the subject. Click on the numbers to read full pages of the text.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pageren...

Here are some good articles on mesothelioma.

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1457.h...

This article has an excellent description of mesothelioma staging.

http://www.emedicine.com/radio/topic449....

I'd get yearly check ups from a pulmonologist. good luck