Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the type of pleural mesothelioma which is cancerous and usually life-threatening. While benign pleural mesothelioma is non-cancerous and usually doesn’t result in death, malignant cases are very severe. Fortunately, they are rare, and only account for two thousand deaths annually in the United States. Malignant pleural mesothelioma affects the area around the lungs, affecting the cells and the lining around that region as well as around the ribs. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the most common form of mesothelioma, and account for three-fourths of all mesothelioma cases. The symptoms for this dangerous disease do not appear until several years later, like in all other mesothelioma cases. The patient may be completely oblivious to his/her condition until twenty to fifty years later, when the symptoms occur. Once he/she is diagnosed, there is not much time left for the patient. Symptoms of this disease include: shortness of breath, pains in the chest area, weakness and fatigue, weight loss, pains in the lower back area, persistent and excessive coughing, and pain and unease in swallowing. The doctor can detect pleural mesothelioma through chest x-rays or CT scans, but the diagnosis does not end there. The doctor may need to obtain a tissue sample through biopsy in order to be able to diagnose the patient. Depending on how much the tumor spreads, the patient can suffer from severe pain in the chest and lung area. Difficulty in breathing may result, and the lungs can be compressed continually as the tumor grows. Many different types of therapies are offered for patients of mesothelioma, including chemotherapy, surgery, intra-operative photodynamic therapy, and radiation. The patient can also receive a combination of different therapies, which is called multimodal therapy.