Mesothelioma Diagnosis and Screening Methods

Asbestos has been a known link to a variety of health problems for decades, the most serious being a form involving cancer called malignant mesothelioma. If you're worried about medical effects of long-term exposure in order to asbestos -- for yourself or for someone you care about -- this article explains a lot of the techniques that are utilized in order to screen patients and diagnose (or tip out) mesothelioma.

Early Diagnosis of Mesothelioma: Look for Symptoms

It isn't an easy task to spot malignant mesothelioma, especially in early stages. The path to an appropriate diagnosis begins with early recognition of symptoms that might indicate the presence of the condition. Specifically, tell your doctor (or your own loved one's doctor) about from any of the following -- especially if you're already concerned about developing health problems because of contact with high levels of asbestos:

chest pain
lower back pain
abdominal pain
trouble breathing
fever
coughing up blood
trouble swallowing, or
hoarse voice.

Consumed individually, the symptoms outlined earlier mentioned don't necessarily indicate mesothelioma. They could be related to a much much less serious condition, or they may well not point to any health problem by any means. But since these symptoms could be cause for concern, especially in people who have worked around high levels of asbestos for long periods of time, your doctor will likely want to perform many follow-up tests, including x-rays as well as pulmonary function tests.

Screening Methods for Mesothelioma

If a preliminary medical exam prompts a medical expert to perform follow-up tests to the possibility of mesothelioma, here's a glance at the kinds of screening procedures that might be used.

Imaging tests.

Your doctor may use quite a few imaging tests to screen for asbestos-related health issues. These might include x-ray, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), FURRY FRIEND (positron emission tomography) scans, along with CT (computed tomography) scans. The CT scan would be the most modern (and most valuable) technique for screening at-risk patients for symptoms of mesothelioma. That's because the CT check produces a cross-section image of the patient's lung or abdomen, supplying radiologists a view that common x-rays can't provide.

Fluid removal and testing.

If examination of the patient's chest or abdomen suggests the presence of fluid, the doctor may wish to drain the fluid and analyze it further. This is done by inserting a needle into your chest (a procedure called thoracentesis) or perhaps abdomen (paracentesis) and drawing the fluid out so it could be tested.

Thoracoscopy (tissue sampling).

With this procedure, your doctor will use a computer device called a thoroscope to examine inside your chest cavity. Being a biopsy, a thoracoscopy involves a small incision in your chest and removing a portion of tissue for examination. Patients might feel some pressure in their chest area during this method, but it is usually reasonably pain-free. (While thoracoscopy involves examination of tissue in the chest, much the same procedure uses a tool called a peritoneoscope to look at tissue in the abdomen. ).

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