Getting your mesothelioma diagnosis is just the beginning of your journey, but there?s a lot to learn before you hear the official word from your doctor. To be absolutely sure that you have been exposed and affected by asbestos, you need to have a battery of tests that will help you and your doctor feel certain about your mesothelioma diagnosis.
Here are some of the most common ways of testing for mesothelioma in your body, starting from the least invasive test to the most invasive:
Chest X-Ray A chest x-ray is simply a way to take a picture of your lungs without having to do anything invasive. From this x-ray film, a doctor will be able to diagnose if there is any thickening of the lung tissue, which is often a sign of mesothelioma. If you?ve been recently exposed to asbestos, this may not show up immediately, but these kinds of results do signify that something dangerous is happening to the lung tissue.
CT Scan If the initial chest x-ray looks suspicious, the next usual step is a CT scan. If a CT is not available, a doctor may also order an MRI. What this does is point out the fluids that are present in the body. If there is a lot of fluid in the lungs, it may be a sign of a mesothelioma diagnosis and asbestos exposure.
Pleural and Peritoneal Aspiration
When the CT or the MRI shows a lot of fluid in these parts of the body, you can also aspirate, or draw out the fluid with a needle to see if it contains any cancerous cells. This sample is sent to pathology for examination, but if there are no cancerous cells, that doesn?t mean that you?re necessarily in the clear either. It can mean that you have some other diagnosis than mesothelioma.
Biopsy If you have an obvious mass in your lungs or in your abdominal cavity, the doctor might want to take a part of it to examine for cancerous cells, called a biopsy. This allows the doctor to see if the cancer has spread to this part of the body.
With these various tests and procedures, a doctor will be gathering the evidence needed to make a conclusive mesothelioma diagnosis. There may actually be something else going on that?s simply similar to the symptoms you may be having, so you want to rule out mesothelioma cancer as a possibility.
About the Author:
Dave Casey is a medical writer for http://www.mesothelioma-adviser.com Visit the site for mesothelioma cancer help and how to determine a mesothelioma diagnosis.
Copyright 2007 Mesothelioma-Adviser.com
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