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The tumor can cause increasing pressure on the organs in the abdomen, leading to bowel obstruction and distention. It is presses upward it can impair one’s breathing capacity. As nerve fibers are affected and bowel distends, the amount of pain can increase. Survival time of this form of cancer is less that that of pleural mesothelioma averaging at 10 months from the onset of symptoms.
Cancer affecting the thin lining of tissue that surrounds the heart or the pericardium is known as pericardial mesothelioma. This is the rarest form of cancer among the three. Symptoms include chest pain, cough, dyspnea and palpitations.
If you suspect that you or your loved one could be suffering from this rare form of cancer, immediately seek your physician’s attention and apprise him of any exposure to asbestos you or your loved one have had. The patient should also disclose his or her medical history and more importantly his work history for it could hasten the physician’s diagnosis once he is informed regarding possible exposure to asbestos. It is important also to indicate duration of exposure. Those living near areas or factories that handle asbestos could also be at risk. Even family members of workers handling asbestos are at risk as well.
It is essential that the patient gets a complete physical examination like a chest x-ray, lung function tests and blood tests. Tests in the urine, feces, mucus and material rinsed out of the lungs can also aid in the correct diagnosis of mesothelioma for it could pinpoint any abnormalities in the body organs.
Diagnosing mesothelioma can be obtained through imaging techniques and tissue sampling. Imagine techniques include x-rays, computed tomography or CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging or MRI and positron emission tomography or PET.
Once mesothelioma is suspected through imaging tests, confirming is done through pathological examinations. This is characterized by the removal of tissue and placed under the microscope allowing a pathologist to make a definitive diagnosis.
Further examinations can be done to make a complete verification of the illness. A thorascope is used in thorascopy tests for pleural mesothelioma patients where the physician cuts through the chest wall and inserts the instrument between the two ribs. A thoracentesis is done by collecting excess fluid from the affected organ.
Perioneoscopy is done on peritoneal mesothelioma patients. A peritonescope is put into an opening made in the abdomen. Paracentesis is done by collecting excess fluid from the abdomen.
When there is abnormal tissue in the organ, the physician will obtain a biopsy by cutting out a small piece of the tissue and examine it under a microscope. This is the final determining factor that could lead to a correct diagnosis of mesothelioma. A pathologist is tasked to determine whether the cancer is benign or malignant based on the sample tissue obtained from the patient. Although pathologists have a general expertise of various diseases, only a small number have acquired training in the study of mesothelioma.
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