The key to increased life expectancy when battling extremely aggressive cancers like mesothelioma is early detection. Unfortunately, researchers have yet to develop an effective lung cancer screening tool. While breast cancer has the mammogram and prostate cancer has the PSA, lung cancer does not have an equivalent test for detection. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) identifies chest x-rays, CT scans, PET scans and the bronchoscopy as tests used to diagnose lung cancer, but these tests are only effective after a patient has presented worsening respiratory symptoms. Patients with mesothelioma often have symptoms such as a persistent cough, shortness of breath, fatigue and wheezing, similar to other respiratory illnesses. Typically, when a patient first exhibits these symptoms, doctors first treat them for a respiratory infection. They only test for cancer later. This leads to a late diagnosis, when the disease is already causing life-threatening complications. Studies are underway to find an…
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Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Attorneys
Early Detection is Key in Mesothelioma
February 2nd, 2012Gene Sequencing Allows for Targeted Cancer Treatments
January 30th, 2012Genome sequencing may offer mesothelioma sufferers new hope, giving doctors a much better understanding of an individual’s disease profile and allowing for targeted treatments. The mapping of the human genome is considered by many to be one of the major scientific breakthroughs of all time. Some researchers are taking this new ability and using it in a very specific way: mapping specific diseases. Cancer genomes are showing to be particularly good candidates for such genome sequencing. According to Barrett Rollins of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, cancer “is among the most promising targets because it is essentially a disease in which damaged genes let cells grow without restraint.” The cost of gene sequencing has gone down dramatically, and while many insurance companies do not offer coverage for the procedure, the out-of-pocket expense for the average patient is now less than $1,000. Sequencing cancer genes can give an enormous amount of…
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Japanese Researchers Recommend Invasive Procedure
January 27th, 2012Japanese researchers are suggesting that the difficulty in diagnosing pleural mesothelioma may require more invasive measures. For patients who can tolerate the procedure, an operation to remove part of the chest lining may be the best way to diagnose early malignant pleural mesothelioma. The standard and least invasive diagnostic test when pleural mesothelioma is suspected is pleural effusion cytology. A buildup of fluid between the layers of the pleura, known as pleural effusion, is one of the first clinical signs of mesothelioma. Doctors draw of some of this fluid to test for cancer cells. The Japanese researchers point out that this method has a level of sensitivity of only about 60 percent. False negatives result in a delay of critical treatments. In order to get a more reliable diagnoses, they suggest performing a thoracoscopic pleural biopsy. This involves removing a part of the chest lining. Even this, they admit, will…
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Families of Asbestos Workers at High Risk for Mesothelioma
January 25th, 2012The families of asbestos workers can often be just as susceptible to mesothelioma as the person working with the material. Asbestos dust often travels home on the clothes of workers, making it easy to inhale for the workers’ families. The recent story of eight adult children of an asbestos worker who now have asbestos-related diseases demonstrates how hazardous the material can be. Kora Leah was a foreman at Cape Asbestos in Hebben Bridge, Yorkshire, England. His children remember how they would play with their father when he returned home from work with his clothes still covered with asbestos dust. “I remember my mother shaking his overalls and dust going everywhere,” Maureen McGough, 73, recalled. She said that the children would sometimes accompany their father to work and play in the piles of asbestos dust. Their father died of lung cancer in 1958, 10 years after he left Cape Asbestos. Two…
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