Pleural mesothelioma is the common type of asbestos cancer that occurs due to long term exposure to asbestos fibers. Every year tow to three thousand mesothelioma cases are registered from which about two third are reported as pleural mesothelioma. This type of asbestos cancer originates in the lining of lungs. The lung lining is known as pleura and consisted of mesothelial cells. The pleura is consist of two layer; the parietal layer that is also known as external layer and visceral layer that surrounds the organs. Both layers in combination protect the chest cavity and lungs.

The main cause of this form of cancer is asbestos fibers that accumulated in space between the mesothelial cells through the inhalation asbestos environment. With the prolong existence of asbestos fibers, the pleural tissues tend to be cancerous. Pleural cells start dividing and become a cause of density of pleural semblances. As the result, the lung capacity becomes shorter and fluid start to increase between the pleural layers.

The most familiar symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include fever, cough problem, night sweats, fatigue, stress, weight lose, breathing problems, pain in chest or ribs, cough with blood spotting and semblance of tumor under the skin of chest. Like other types of cancer the pleural cancer is difficult to diagnose because of the resemblance of initial symptoms to the less dangerous disease like influenza, fever, cough etc and can not be cured completely at the later stage. However, the medical advancement has made the mesothelioma treatment very hopeful. Normally, three options are considered for this type of cancer that is chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.