There are certain facts about mesothelioma that one should be aware about since this is one of the newest and most deadliest conditions to hit humankind in recent times. At an average there are about 3000 cases of mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases being diagnosed every year in the United States alone.

Secondly, mesothelioma and asbestos experts predict that within the next two decades or so, the number of mesothelioma patients will probably increase on a sustained level. All ready over 8 million people in the United States have been exposed to asbestos and even now it is still found in many workplaces and therefore continues to pose serious health threats. In spite of being banned in many countries, there are approximately 5,000 products that still use asbestos nowadays.

Workers in the asbestos insulation industry face mesothelioma death rate which is over 300 times higher than the death rate of the general population. There are estimates that by 2030 asbestos will have lead to over 60,000 cases of mesothelioma as well as 250,000 instances of other types of cancers which are fatal as well. In the years between 1999 and 2001, over 7000 people have passed away due to mesothelioma.

On a world wide basis there are more than 10,000 cases of mesothelioma along with other asbestos related deaths that are being diagnosed every year.

Mesothelioma litigation is also increasing day by day as already over half a million claims including both mesothelioma and other asbestos related injury claims have been filed. In the year of 1998 there were 50,000 lawsuits filed.

Once you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you must act quickly and get yourself a mesothelioma attorney as fast as possible. This is because different states in the country have different statute of limitation laws. For example in certain states there is a specified time light within which it is imperative to hire a lawyer failing which you might become ineligible for filing the lawsuit. So waste no time. Your ineligibility also means that you might not be awarded in any of the money which can go upto millions of dollars which will be instrumental in helping you or your loved ones to deal with this financial drain which will follow your diagnosis.

When you are choosing a law firm, make sure that the firm has agreements with some of the best lawyers in the country because the latter can handle your case with no extra cost. Thus you might have the best legal help that can be given. Also these lawyers cannot ask you for advance fees as they work on something called a contingency basis which means that they do not get paid a cent if the case is not won. If you are successfully awarded a compensation then they get a portion of that. So they should not be asking you for any money before hand.

Your attorney will probably file one of the two most common types of mesothelioma lawsuits. One is the personal injury lawsuit. These are filed by the mesothelioma patients themselves, and seek to get financial compensation for income loss, medical expenses which run up to huge amounts taking into consideration the seriousness of the condition.

The second kind is the wrongful death lawsuit. In this the surviving family of the mesothelioma victims file a lawsuit and seek for compensation. Also, a family member who has contracted mesothelioma due to prolonged contact with the exposed person can also file a lawsuit. They are called secondary mesothelioma victims and have been awarded claims in the past.

You must hire a mesothelioma attorney as soon as you are diagnosed with the condition. Since this a serious form of cancer, the medical expenses are very high. Therefore you must start filing a lawsuit as soon as possible, so that you can claim compensation as soon as possible. The time factor is extremely crucial and the last thing that is needed here is an unwarranted delay. There are certain processes that are involved in a mesothelioma litigation, and the entire procedure can become very taxing for the plaintiffs but this is where the expertise of the attorney comes into play. If you have chosen a competent and experienced attorney then the entire process of mesothelioma litigation should not be a very rocky path.

Considering that all goes well, the litigation should take the following processes. Firstly there is the consultation process during which all the preliminary information is collated. After you make your choice of an attorney you will have to sign an agreement which is a binding clause between you and the law firm. This is called attorney-client contract. You will be requested to supply as much of the data that you can provide and therefore you must start collecting these even before you meet your attorney.

There are different ways of treating this rare cancer and treatment includes all the conventional cancer therapies of radiation and chemotherapy. It has been seen that chemotherapy and radiation has had a higher chance in increasing the lifespan of the patients by a maximum of five years, and in some cases, a little more than that. In this case, surgery has proved to deliver disappointing results in terms of extending the lifespan of mesothelioma patients.

In surgery, usually a pleurectomy is conducted. In this the chest lining is surgically removed. The most conventional and relatively successful methods are that of chemotherapy and radiation. In the latter the entire hemi thorax is treated wit h radiation along with chemotherapy. This treatment is usually followed after a radical surgery, and is therefore, a post-surgical procedure.

The former, which is chemotherapy, is the only method which is known to extend the lifespan of patients, while it is being administered in strictly controlled doses. Studies have revealed that a combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy is a lot more effective than cisplatin therapy alone.

Then there is immunotherapy where patients inoculated with BCG or Bacillus Calmette-Guerin was not successful in enhancing the immunity of the patient, while treating the cancerous cells with in vitro lysis by LAK cells followed by interleukin-2 proved to be effective. However there have been instances of major side effects with different tests in immunotherapy while some have yielded relatively good results. For example, tests with interferon alpha have been relatively successful as the tumours have been reduced to 50% of their original sizes.