Friday, September 10, 2010

Information With Regards To Mesothelioma And Examination

By Rosendo Eilbert

Mesothelioma is a disease one does not wish on anyone, but it is a fact of life. Mesothelioma takes a long time to develop in people and symptoms may not appear for a long period of time.

Asbestos is normally the primary cause of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma can go untreated and unnoticed for as much as 25 years until it is often too late. By the time the symptoms become particularly bothersome, the cancer may have already reached beyond manageable levels. Doctors are extremely limited in their options once the symptoms have made themselves apparent.

Symptoms of mesothelioma can vary from person to person, which adds to the difficulty in detecting the disease. There are also various types of mesothelioma which make an accurate diagnosis even a larger issue. Furthermore, the signs of mesothelioma are often mistaken for common diseases.

The most accurate way of diagnosing mesothelioma correctly is actually looking at a person's work history and determining whether they have been in contact with mesothelioma-related carcinogens. If your work history reveals that you have worked with asbestos extensively then you should go have yourself examined immediately. Fair warning, the tests available at the moment are not cheap.Many times doctors will avoid testing unless they have a specific reason to suspect it.

Hopefully, the technology to diagnose earlier and more accurately will become available soon.These tests would hopefully be able to diagnose the disease early enough for treatment to be effective.

Because of the difficulty in diagnosing Mesothelioma and the fact that it is commonly mistaken for other disease, the cancer is given even more time to take root. Many patients have fallen victim to a misdiagnosis which occurs commonly unless the doctor is privy to the fact that the patient has handled asbestos.

When it comes to treatment, a patient is limited to just three options.The treatments include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Surgery is the most commonly used technique because it can physically remove the cancerous tissue from the body. The linings of various organs must be separated from the rest of the body and taken out for the surgery to be effective.Radiation may be used to kill cancer cells that cannot be removed through surgery. Chemotherapy will also function in the same way by killing cancerous cells. However, no treatment is guaranteed to work because lung cancer metastasizes quickly in its later stages.

In conclusion, Mesothelioma is extremely lethal. In a sad irony, when it is easiest to cure it is the least bothersome and noticeable.It is also expensive to diagnose since tests can be costly.Many doctors will look for other illnesses before ever checking for this disease. Therefore, it is extremely critical that if you have been exposed to asbestos at some point in your life that you contact your doctor immediately and let them know.This is the best chance you have of catching the disease and starting treatment that could save your life.

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