The pleural mesothelioma is a rare disease of the lining of the lung and chest cavity that is usually cancerous. The cause is asbestos exposure and it could take 15 to 35 years to develop this disease, counting from the time of asbestos exposure.

However, the latest researches have pointed out a blood test that might help screening for pleural mesothelioma by checking the blood for high levels of a protein called osteopontin. This is important because blood osteopontin levels rise dramatically in the early stages of the disease. This kind of cancer is a deadly asbestos related illness.

This exposure can be direct with the substance or second-hand, with a family member whose clothing or skin carried the asbestos into the home. Obviously in the last case, the development of the disease could take more than 35 years.

Because of pleural mesothelioma it is difficult to detect it in its early, it has high mortality rates and a life expectancy of few months. However, with the new blood test mentioned above, it is expected a higher percentage of probabilities to detect it. Moreover, it can detect other kinds of asbestos related cancers. But in those cases, the findings need further studies, other kind of cancer that could be early detected through blood test is for instance "Ovarian Cancer".

So, the earlier pleural mesothelioma cancer is detected, the better chances that people affected have. If you want to know how to do it, a blood test might be very useful in these cases.