Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer found in the lungs. It almost always is caused by asbestos exposure. Having seen my step-father die a painful death from it, I thought I would share the signs and symptoms for everyone.
Mesotheliomas have 3 basic histologic forms: epithelioid (the most frequent), sarcomatoid or mixed (biphasic). More often, areas showing features and admixtures of these three types may be encountered within a single tumor; a sarcomatoid component is observed in 25% of cases, but a pure sarcomatoid variety is extremely rare and only 32 cases have been reported in the literature since 2006
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways, such as by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos, or by home renovation using asbestos cement products. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking.
Mesothelioma Incidence
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence is approximately one per 1,000,000. For comparison, populations with high levels of smoking can have a lung cancer incidence of over 1,000 per 1,000,000. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past several decades. It has been estimated that incidence may have peaked at 15 per 1,000,000 in the United States in 2004. Incidence is expected to continue increasing in other parts of the world. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age. Approximately one fifth to one third of all mesotheliomas are peritoneal.
Between 1940 and 1979, approximately 27.5 million people were occupationally exposed to asbestos in the United States and may be entitled to a mesothelioma settlement. Between 1973 and 1984, there has been a threefold increase in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in Caucasian males. From 1980 to the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the USA increased from 2,000 per year to 3,000, with men four times more likely to acquire it than women. These rates may not be accurate, since it is possible that many cases of mesothelioma are misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is difficult to differentiate from mesothelioma.
August 23, 2009
Tags: actionmeso, asbestos, cancer, hazard, meso, Mesothelioma, occupational Posted in: Mesothelioma, actionmeso 
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HEALTH EFFECTS: Asbestosis
Pulmonary asbestosis is defined as parenchymal fibrosis with or without pleural thickening depending on the intensity of exposure and latency. The fibrosis induces a restrictive lung disease. In general, fibrosis manifests clinically within 20 yr of the onset of exposure. Even short-term exposure for less than one month, if sufficiently intense, can result in asbestosis. Asbestosis is usually associated with dyspnea on exertion, bibasilar crackles, and changes in pulmonary function. Cough and chest pain are the chief complaints among asbestos textile workers with asbestosis in Korea, even though their pulmonary function may not decrease severely.
Clubbing of the fingers may also occur in advanced cases of fibrosis. Chest radiography are the primary tools to diagnose asbestosis. Upon chest radiography, small and irregular opacities are evident in the mid and lower lung zones. However, some cases of asbestosis cannot be detected by chest radiography; therefore, HRCT is helpful for the diagnosis of patients who do not show definite asbestosis upon chest radiography, but have dyspnea, dry cough, and have developed restrictive changes in their pulmonary function. Pulmonary function changes include a restrictive impairment, with a decreased forced vital capacity (FVC), total lung capacity (TLC), and diffusing capacity (DLCO). It is important to differentiate asbestosis from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, congestive heart failure, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, scleroderma, sarcoidosis, rheumatoid lung, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, and other pneumoconiosis.
August 23, 2009
Tags: asbestos, Asbestosis, cancer, HEALTH EFFECTS, Lung cancer, Mesothelioma Information Posted in: HEALTH EFFECTS, Mesothelioma asbestos One Comment
HEALTH EFFECTS: Lung cancer
Lung cancer along with mesothelioma is known as asbestos related cancer. In general, asbestos related lung cancer cannot be differentiated from other primary forms of lung cancer. Therefore, it should be examined whether lung cancer accompanies asbestosis when evaluating asbestos related lung cancer.
However, some epidemiologic studies have shown that the incidence rate of lung cancer is higher among asbestos workers without asbestosis than among the general population. As a result, the following criteria must also be considered to determine if cancer is related to asbestos: cumulative exposure, latency, type of asbestos, and work history.
Many countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands apply the Helsinki criteria which include the aforementioned components when determining if cancer is related to asbestos.
August 23, 2009
Tags: HEALTH EFFECTS, Lung cancer, Q & A, Types of Mesothelioma Posted in: HEALTH EFFECTS, Lung cancer 2 Comments
