Diagnosis of Mesothelioma - Must Be Done Quickly

Diagnosis of any disease is a very important step before doctors can proceed to treatment. Quicker the diagnosis, the more effective can be the treatment strategy. This is especially true in case of dangerous diseases like mesothelioma. It is the cancer affecting the serous cavities of lungs, abdomen, and heart. The end result of asbestos exposure, this cancer poses huge trouble to the patient as the prognosis is almost always poor. Therefore, diagnosing it accurately is necessary to improve the chances of survival.

How to diagnose mesothelioma?

After the doctor comes across the various symptoms of mesothelioma including cough, breathlessness, chest pain, etc, he does routine evaluation using an X-ray. But when the symptoms persist despite an effort to put an end to them, he may go for further imaging techniques like CT scan and MRI scan. These investigations do give a clue to the malady. But the final diagnosis of mesothelioma cannot be made unless the biopsy is done. The lung tissue is removed with the help of fine needle aspiration cytology and sent for histopathological investigation. This confirms the diagnosis. This and other imaging techniques help in staging of the disease too.

What steps are taken after diagnosing mesothelioma?

As we said, diagnosing the cancer in the earliest of stages is very crucial because only then one can halt the progress of the disease. After confirming the diagnosis, immediate step is to assess the treatment plan. Depending upon the stage of the mesothelioma cancer, doctors plan the treatment strategy and also the auxiliary treatment is fixed for the treatment regime.

If the cancer is still localized without burrowing the neighboring tissues and organs, surgery is the widely chosen option in which debulking may be done to remove the entire portion of cancerous growth in an attempt to help patient get rid of the malady. But if the spread has already taken place and the cancer has spread in neighboring lymph nodes and structures, one has to opt for chemotherapy and/or radiation. Apart from these conventional treatments, patient may be advised to go for clinical trials. Many clinical trials are carried out these days and the patient may feel better with any of the compliant mode of therapy.

Also some alternative therapies are suggested like homeopathy with varying degree of relief for the patient. Mesothelioma is by far a nasty cancer undoubtedly. But when the diagnosis is done at early stages, today we have huge number of treatment strategies available. Expert doctors will always opt for multi-modal therapy (including many options) so that the patient is given all options in order to survive and improve his quality of life!

Remember the mesothelioma is the cancer that may require lot of hospital visits and huge money may have to be spent on treatment plans. No wonder even doctors suggest their patients to file a lawsuit to secure compensation from the employer with whom the patient worked during his tenure and got exposed to asbestos. This compensation if secured by mesothelioma lawyers will be very useful for the patient in an attempt to survive with apt treatments!