Archive for February, 2010

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How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed? V

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Wedge biopsy

Wedge biopsy
For this procedure the doctor makes an incision through the skin and gets a wedge-shaped piece of tumor tissue and sends it to the laboratory for analysis. The patient must be under general anesthesia for this procedure. Sometimes he uses this type of biopsy when other biopsy methods have not been able to confirm a diagnosis.

Cytology and Pathology
The pathology is the study of a disease in which cells and specifically notes the types of disease processes in order to determine the cause. The pathological examinations are carried out on samples of body fluid or tissue to determine the type of cells (cytology) of a specific evil. The process of observing these samples may include the use of microscopes, electron microscopes and several dyes. This refers to a special technique of stained cells to identify specific types of tumors of mesothelioma. Certain dyes and colors are added to the biopsy samples of the patient and depending on how the tissue responds to dyeing, the doctor may then make a better diagnosis of the disease and its consequences. In making the diagnosis, the more information you have about the tumor, the better the doctor can recommend the most appropriate treatment. Knowing the exact type of disease, allows the physician to perform a more specific treatment.

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How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed? IV

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Needle biopsy

Mediastinoscopy
This is a test that examines the mediastinum. This area is located in the center of the chest between the lungs and contains the heart, blood vessels and lymph nodes.

Needle biopsy
For this procedure, the doctor uses a fine needle to take samples and examine the cells under a microscope. This test can be uncomfortable, but only takes a few minutes. Also, your doctor may use X-rays, CT scan or fluoroscopy to guide the needle when inserted into the tumor.

Fluoroscopy is a diagnostic procedure in which X-rays are passed through the body and then projected onto a screen, thus allowing continued to observe an image of internal body structures. You may take small tissue samples and send them to the laboratory for analysis.

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How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed? III

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Bronchoscopy

Bronchoscopy
A bronchoscopy involves an examination of the lungs and airways. The doctor puts a lighted tube down the patient’s windpipe to the lungs. This procedure is called bronchoscopy and the instrument used is called a bronchoscope.

Thoracentesis
Some patients may develop fluid in the lungs. This is known as pleural effusion. Your doctor may take a sample of this fluid with a needle and injected into the breast examinations to determine if it is cancerous. It could also happen that your doctor performs a drain fluid from the lungs to help relieve pain.

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How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed? II

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Thoracoscopy

PET scan
It is a procedure in which a small amount of glucose (sugar) radiation is injected directly into the vein and a scanner is used to create computer images that detail the areas within the body where the glucose is used. Because cancer cells tend to use more glucose than normal cells, this procedure and its images can be used to find cancer cells in the body.

Thoracoscopy
The diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma may mean that your doctor performs a physical exam within the chest cavity with an observation instrument called a thoracoscope. For this procedure, an incision through the chest wall and enters the device between two ribs. Generally, this procedure is performed in the hospital.

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How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

computerized axial tomography

Diagnosis is the process of determining the type of disease that occurs. An accurate diagnosis is important because it helps determine the type of treatment to follow.

Your doctors may use a set of procedures to help with the diagnosis of mesothelioma. The most common procedures are listed below. Whether you use one of these tests, or a combination of several in the case of a particular patient will depend on factors that are unique to each patient. It is possible to first perform some tests to determine whether a biopsy is necessary. A biopsy is usually necessary to confirm the diagnosis.

CT CT
This type of X-ray provides a very detailed picture of the size and location of cancer. The images obtained are compiled by a computer to create a more complete picture of evil. The procedure is also known as Computerized Axial Tomography, hence its acronym (CAT).

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The Stages of Malignant Mesothelioma

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Stages of Malignant Mesothelioma

Malignant mesothelioma through 4 stages, each more advanced than the other. Your doctor will determine at what stage the cancer is, in a process called definition of the stage, because each stage requires changes in treatment.

Stage I: Cancer is found in the tissues lining the lungs, heart or abdomen.

Stage II: Mesothelioma has reached this stage when the investment has gone to the lymph nodes.

Stage III: Cancer has spread to the chest cavity, the center of the chest, heart, diaphragm or stomach.

Stage IV: The most advanced stage is when the mesothelioma has spread to organs that are not part of the lungs, the heart or abdominal system, such as the liver, pancreas or colon.

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Age Groups Most Affected

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Age Groups Most Affected

Mesothelioma has a long latent period between exposure to asbestos and the onset of injury or illness. The latent period can be 15 to 50 years or more. There are also documented cases whose latent period was less than 15 years. It means that a person recently diagnosed with mesothelioma it is likely that for decades has been exposed.

According to NCI (National Cancer Institute), are reported annually in the U.S. Approximately 3,000 cases of malignant mesothelioma. The incidence of mesothelioma appears to increase. Mesothelioma is 3 times more common in men than in women. In men, the feasibility is 10 times higher at ages 60 to 70 years, compared to men between 30 and 40. In the past 50 years, occupational exposure to asbestos in the U.S. are estimated to have affected approximately 8 million people.

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Knowledge of Risk From the Asbestos Industry

Friday, February 19th, 2010

the Asbestos Industry

For decades, manufacturers of products containing asbestos and many of the companies that employ men and women who work with these products, have knowingly exposed workers to risks such harmful. The attitude of these companies is demonstrated by the testimony of Charles H. Roemer, a former employee of Unarco, who describes a meeting between officers from Unarco and Lewis Brown, president of Johns-Manville and his brother, Vandiver Brown, in the early ’40s:

“I’ll never forget, one of Brown said Unarco managers were fools for notifying employees who had asbestosis, and I said, ‘Mr. Brown “you are telling me they prefer their employees to work until they drop dead?” He said, ‘Yes We save much money that way. ‘ “1

That attitude is reflected again and again through the decades, thousands of industry documents. Companies that manufacture and use asbestos products had extensive information that showed them and confirmed the dangers of harmful material. Scientific publications, medical literature, industry organizations, and in many cases, their own internal reports, studies and other documents.

The amount of documents produced and held by the asbestos industry has a common theme: indisputable evidence that exposure to asbestos is harmful and causes death in people exposed to the fiber. This information could have prevented many deaths related to asbestos, if the information had been used to protect workers and the public.

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Occupational and Environmental Exposure to Asbestos

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Environmental Exposure to Asbestos

The widespread use of asbestos has caused thousands of workers who do not suspect, and their families have been exposed to toxic mineral. The Administration of Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States has said there is no other example in which exposure to toxic minerals, has proven so harmful to humans, as has exposure to asbestos. It is estimated that from 1940 to 1970, approximately 27,500,000 individuals were potentially exposed to asbestos. This figure is not surprising when you consider that there are an estimated 1.2 billion square feet of asbestos insulation material contained in 190,000 buildings in the United States, and that the number of exposed workers is estimated at 900,000.

Workers exposed to asbestos in many lines of work and workplaces, ranging from construction to mining, manufacturing and consumer industries. According to one author, the Asbestos Information Association has been estimated that up to 3,000 different uses for asbestos, which has the consequence of asbestos exposure in the areas of mining and processing, manufacturing, primary and secondary products contain asbestos, construction and ship repair and building processes, to name a few.

Harmful exposure to asbestos has occurred not only workers of the works, but even the residents and neighboring communities to mining and manufacturing plants of asbestos products may have been exposed. It is estimated that the release out of work from construction areas reached levels 100 times higher than normal level of asbestos in the environment.

Additionally, household pollution also occurs when the worker brings home clothing contaminated with the toxic mineral, thus exposing unknowingly to members of his family. In fact, some believe that the most important source of contamination and non-occupational exposure to asbestos today is that of contaminated materials in homes, schools and public buildings.

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Asbestos: A Historical Overview

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Asbestos

The term “asbestos” originated from Greek, meaning “indestructible”. The term is commonly used to refer to the group of mineral fibers that share properties of thermal and chemical resistance, flexibility and high tensile strength. Because of its many uses, asbestos is also known as “the magic mineral” and is incorporated in more than 3,000 products used in industry or at home.

Although asbestos was used in many products during the industrial revolution (and still used today) modern industry was not the first to use this material as harmful. The use of asbestos beyond the year 2500 BC, when used in the manufacture of pottery Finnish. One of the earliest uses of asbestos was its use in the wick of a lamp of gold to the goddess Athena created between the fourth and fifth centuries BC. During that period Asbestos blankets were used to hold the ashes of the dead during cremation and Pliny describes the use of asbestos cloth as the funeral dress of kings. In an act of exhibitionism, it is said that Charlemagne showed an asbestos tablecloth in the great hall. After the feast, the cloth and its contents are fire and threw it back out intact to the amazement of the guests. Also, during his travels in 1240, Marco Polo was referring to a fabric in the northern provinces of the Great Khan who had the property not be consumed and purified with fire.

Industrial use of asbestos began on a moderate scale, following the discovery of a substantial deposits of asbestos in the Ural mountains in western Russia, around 1720. The discovery led to the founding of the first factory of asbestos products, including textiles, socks, gloves and handbags. Then came more discoveries of different types of asbestos in different continents and therefore their use in many applications.

Chrysotile asbestos was discovered in Quebec, Canada in 1860 and extraction began in 1878 when there were 50 tonnes in the first year of operations. Then crocidolite asbestos was discovered in South Africa in 1815 and substantial exploitation began around 1910 fibers. Amosite asbestos was discovered in the central Transvaal in 1907 and mining operations and began operating in 1916. The institution of these operations, along with the industrial revolution, defined the widespread use of asbestos and the public health crisis that would result.

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