Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an uncommon, but increasingly recognized, malignant neoplasm of the pleura. Patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma have cancerous growths in the tissues surrounding their lungs. Pleural mesothelioma is the medical term for the lethal mesothelioma lung cancer caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres. There is no benign form of this disease. Mesothelioma can attack several areas of the body, but two thirds of all mesothelioma diagnoses are pleural.
Malignant mesothelioma of the pleura is a cancer which arises from the mesothelial cells found within the pleural membranes that cover the lungs. Malignant mesothelioma develops from the mesothelial cells of the pleura. Malignant mesothelioma is relatively uncommon compared to other tumours. Australia has the highest incidence of mesothelioma in the world.
