What Is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is rare type of cancer. Thoracic surgeon Dr. Andrea Wolf explains what it is and what makes it a unique type of cancer.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Mesothelioma is a primary cancer of the lining of the lung and chest wall. So the pleura is the lining of the chest wall and lung. In a healthy person, it's like a cellophane wrap around the chest wall, the middle compartment of the chest where the sac around the heart is, the diaphragm that separates the chest and the abdomen, and the entire surface of the lung, deep into the crevices of each of the individual sections. In mesothelioma, that cellophane becomes thickened with tumor, almost like a blanket. Now this differs from other cancers that go to that lining. In fact, it is even more common for people to get other cancers such as breast, lung, or other organs that go to the lining of the lung. That's considered metastatic, meaning cancer going from one location to another part of the body or another organ. And so mesothelioma is when the cancer starts in the pleura or that lining. [MUSIC PLAYING]
