Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Types of Mesothelioma Cancer

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA


Pleural Mesothelioma:
Pleural Mesothelioma is a tumor in which the lining of the lungs, or lung pleura, gets affected by malignant cells. The pleura is a soft protective tissue that surrounds the lungs in the chest cavity. It helps the lungs in breathing (respiration) by producing a serous liquid that lubricates the pleural surfaces to keep away from the teasing of the lungs against the chest wall. The malignant cells, six times entered the pleura, start to spread and affect the surrounding organs and tissues. This leads to further complications resulting pain and severe symptoms.
Mesothelioma affecting pleura is of six categories:

Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer that affects the serous membranes surrounding the major organs of the body i.e. the lungs, heart and the abdominal organs, causing these vital organs to inflate with excessive liquid. This liquid further causes the improper functioning of the organs. The only known cause of this cancerous tumor is asbestos exposure. In this illness, malignant cells are built up in the protective linings (serous membranes) of several internal organs known as mesothelium. Different organs in the abdomen cavity can get affected by mesothelioma because of the presence of the protective linings surrounding them. The most common types of mesothelioma include:
* Pleural Mesothelioma,
* Peritoneal Mesothelioma, and
* Pericardial Mesothelioma.

Diffused or Malignant (Cancerous):
It is the serious form of pleural mesothelioma that affects the pleural lining of the lungs and its surrounding organs.
Localized and Benign (Non-cancerous):
It is the non-cancerous form of mesothelioma, which does not affect all parts of the body except the pleura. However, it constricts the lung causing shortness of breath, and in some severe cases, pneumothorax (lung failure).

Peritoneal Mesothelioma:
Peritoneal Mesothelioma is a tumor of the peritoneum membrane or the abdomen lining, affecting plenty of organs in the abdominal cavity including stomach. This form of mesothelioma cancer is less common than the pleural form but is more aggressive, resulting severe symptoms and short life expectancy. Like plenty of other cancers, peritoneal mesothelioma can also be either malignant or benign.

Pericardial Mesothelioma:
Pericardial or Pericardium Mesothelioma is the rarest form of cancer, counting less than 10% of mesothelioma cases. In this form of cancer, liquid gets accumulated in the sac that encloses the heart. The main cause of this illness is the inhalation of asbestos fibers.

Due to the rarity of this illness, doctors and researchers have not clearly understood how the asbestos fibers enter the heart lining or pericardium. The only logical explanation so far about this form of cancer is the possibility of the asbestos fibers, converted in to small pieces, transported from the lung in to the heart by means of blood circulation. Six times the asbestos fibers enter the heart, they expand the tissues in the chest cavity and the pericardium with excessive liquid, disrupting the working of the heart and causing chest pains with breathing disorders.

Each year, approximately 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed. At some point of their lives, the patients of mesothelioma have been exposed to asbestos that later cause the hideous cancer of mesothelioma. If you, at some point of your life, have worked in an asbestos-rich environment or used any asbestos materials, you ought to contact a mesothelioma doctor for correct diagnosis and best treatment options obtainable.

Summary of Mesothelioma Law

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA

Since this disease is always contracted by exposure to asbestos, and since asbestos has been mined and used by companies for decades as a flame retardant, lots of employees have ended up suing their employers because of disease resulting from asbestos exposure. Thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits have been filed in the United States and abroad since the 1930’s when the deadly effects of asbestos exposure were first documented.

Unfortunately, the nature and location of mesothelioma and asbestosis make an early diagnosis difficult, if not impossible. Most victims of mesothelioma have few medical options by the time they have been diagnosed. The disease can be treated by chemotherapy, radiation, and other standard cancer regimens, but it is most often progressive and fatal.

In the case of a mesothelioma lawsuit, the plaintiff’s attorney must prove that the defendant is responsible for causing the asbestos exposure, and they neglected to tell and protect the plaintiff from its effects. Their cases is stronger if they are a non-smoker and can prove that the asbestos exposure is the only possible cause of their disease.

Thousands of people each year are diagnosed with some form of mesothelioma. Lots of seek to recover damages from the employer who exposed them to asbestos through a mesothelioma lawsuit. The laws regarding asbestos-related disease fall under the personal injury section. The plaintiff sues the defendant for damages that resulted from negligence or neglect.

The defendant’s attorneys have several options. They will often offer to settle out of court, if they fear that a jury trial would result in a massive judgment. Lots of trials are avoided or shortened by a mesothelioma settlement. If they go to trial and lose, they can also appeal the verdict if there's grounds

A patient suffering from asbestosis or mesothelioma needs to hire a competent and experienced mesothelioma attorney to represent them. Since the defendant is probably a massive company with previous experience in these cases their legal firm should be a specialist in mesothelioma law, and not a general practice law firm.

Mesothelioma Cure

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA

While these facts contain specific, medical, terminology which some may be unfamiliar with, it is important to present the terminology as it known; scientifically. While the personal diagnosis, or that of a loved one, with mesothelioma can already seem like a devastating occurrence, it is important for people to educate themselves more specifically about such terms. This will assist both the patient, & their loved ones, to better understand the disease they are battling, & to more effectively communicate with their physicians regarding mesothelioma

Let’s see if they can decide whether or not there is a mesothelioma cure. In this day & age it can seem absurd that there's no cures for cancer let alone a mesothelioma cure. Mesothelioma is a cancer, & as such, there is no true “cure” for it yet. However, if the disease is caught early, various treatment options can not only extend a patient’s life, but also their quality of life. While the traditional survival rate for those diagnosed with mesothelioma is often set at one to 12 months, more recently, a six year survival rate of some has increased substantially. This goes to show that treatment & drugs to battle mesothelioma cancer has increased & improved dramatically in the last few years. This may be due to the fact that more is known about mesothelioma cancer now than it ever was before.
However, there is still much to be understood about this aggressive disease. While the common diagnosis for mesothelioma is that it is indeed a form of cancer, not all researchers are in agreement. So as of yet there's no mesothelioma cure that has been developed; however there's things that people can do to ease any symptoms that they have. Your doctor or health professional will be able to help ease the symptoms & make the last few years or months a lot less hard.
Some people think that mesothelioma cancer is a viral infection that has turned malignant. Thus, their prognosis is that the asbestos fibers which cause the disease could possibly activate an already present common virus infection, & finally cause a variety of clinical conditions for the patient. While plenty of of these clinical conditions may appear to not be harmful, in benign pleural effusions researchers don’t typically find what is known as a pleural cavity that is then full of asbestos needles. Consequently, researchers either aren’t culturing for the right agent, or they require more time to conduct broader research about the true nature of Mesothelioma.
Finally, here are some known medical facts that are not common about Mesothelioma cancer:
• It is very rare for the Serosal membranes to be malignant other than with Mesothelioma cancer.
• It is not asbestos dependent.
• It is not smoking related.
• It only happens when there is evidence of pleurisy.
• The latency period is longer than any other known malignancy.

Mesothelioma Class Actions

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA

W.R. Grace owned the asbestos mine in Libby, Montana. It produced vermiculite that was tainted with tremolite asbestos from the same mines. Not only did the processing mill release as much as 5,000 pounds of asbestos per day in to the air where it would drift down onto the community below, it flew off from the truckloads & railcars as they moved the product to buyers’ sites in Canada & the U.S. Asbestos was incorporated in to products used in homes & gardens, & even in to animal feed.

Lawyers filed the first Burel v Fibreboard action in 1969. These lawyers continued to appeal the case until it reached the Supreme Court in 1973, which ruled that companies had the duties to warn consumers of any dangers their products posed & to assume product liability. Ultimately this decision led to asbestos product labeling & consumer safety warnings.

In 1995 a U.K. woman, June Hancock sued nearby asbestos manufacturer J.W. Roberts & its parent company Turner & Newall for damages after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Hancock never worked in the factory. , he lived near it, played on the factory property as a infant, & attended the school across the road from the factory. Although her most intense exposure was during her childhood, in the 1930s when he & her friends played with the asbestos dust, the particles were easily observed to drift out the factory windows & blow throughout her community. Her mother’s death from mesothelioma in 1982 was hard for her to deal with, but when he was diagnosed with it herself in 1993 he decided to pursue her precedent-setting case. He was the first to file a claim for damages as a community member, not a former employee, & not a household member of an employee. Her landmark case opened the way for others who, like her, had their lives & health destroyed by the negligence of corporate-think.

What was notable about this case is that lawyers handled it as one of the first asbestos & mesothelioma cases tried as a criminal case. The EPA did an inquiry & found that Grace had covered up facts & knowledge about the hazardous exposure & destroy its workers & the community were incurring. Charges included obstruction of justice, fraud & violation of the Tidy Air Act.

Companies that presented themselves as community servants in these cases are increasingly being exposed for their deceptive manipulations of employees for the primary purpose of gaining a profit. These manipulations resulted in preventing employees from knowing how much danger they were exposing themselves & their families to. & plenty of people are suffering & dying because of their deceit.

A 1997 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Amchem Products Inc. v George Windsor which overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed defendants in asbestos & mesothelioma cases to limit their liability, to future claimants, companies like J.W. Roberts & Turner & Newall were again blamed for their negligence. Claimants retained their right to hire their own lawyers & sue for individual claims.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Five risk factor associated with mesothelioma

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA

Exposure to asbestos could have occurred to people who were actually mining asbestos, people who worked in plants that manufactured goods containing asbestos, workers who were installing asbestos-laden materials in buildings, or those who lived or worked in buildings or homes containing asbestos or products made of asbestos. People who were hired to remove asbestos from a building are also at an increased risk of developing mesothelioma. People who worked with asbestos are more likely to create mesothelioma than people who were basically around asbestos materials during their every day life.

The number five risk factor associated with mesothelioma
is the unprotected exposure to asbestos materials. Most people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma have knowledge of prior exposure to asbestos, possibly up to 30 or 40 years prior to their diagnosis.

Another apparent risk factor for developing mesothelioma is living with a person who has been exposed to asbestos. It is believed that individuals who worked with asbestos materials several decades ago may have unknowingly come home with asbestos particles on their clothing. Because protective coverings were not necessary on asbestos workers, the possibility of asbestos particles on clothing was a true possibility.

The level of exposure as well as the amount of time a person was exposed to asbestos also seems to correlate to the risk of developing mesothelioma. For example, someone who worked with asbestos every day for 20 years is much more likely to be diagnosed with mesothelioma than a person who was exposed to it for only five month. However, both categories of exposure contain risk and both can lead to the same cancer. In addition, the younger the person who was exposed, the greater the risk of developing mesothelioma later in life.

When the particles were taken home on clothing, and the clothes were taken off, the asbestos may have flown in to the air inside of the home, and in turn, inhaled by all members of the relatives. Hence, plenty of relatives members of past asbestos workers have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. (Today, there's regulations that won't permit a person working with asbestos to leave a facility before showering and changing their clothes.)

It is a mystery as to why some people who had long-term exposure to asbestos in their past seldom create mesothelioma, and others who were exposed for only a brief period of time create the cancer.
Researchers believe that there may be other reasons that five person is more susceptible to mesothelioma than others. There is a hypothesis that people who create mesothelioma were born with a gene that makes them more predisposed to cancer. In addition, it's been determined that people who smoke are at a much higher risk of developing mesothelioma if they were also exposed to asbestos at any time in their lives.

Another theory regarding mesothelioma's risk factors is related to radiation. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, x-rays, which were used for all sorts of purposes including diagnosing various medical problems, used to contain a substance that was finally linked to plenty of kinds of cancer. It is believed that there may be a link between those individuals who received x-rays between the 1920s and the 1950s may be at a greater risk of developing mesothelioma than those who were not exposed to x-rays during this period of time

There's other mesothelioma risk factors as well. There seems to be a link between mesothelioma and the vaccine that millions of individuals received during the 1950s and 1960s for polio. The connection between mesothelioma and the polio vaccine is only a theory, and there is no scientific proof of this claim.

Mesothelioma Patient

Diposkan oleh MESHOTHELIOMA

There's various options of care for a mesothelioma patient. It is dependant on you what type of care you require to deliver to your loved three. There's a quantity of considerable factors in this case such as your finances, your needs, the patient’s needs & finances & lots of more. It gets very hard to deal with a mesothelioma patient but you require to face the fact that he is no longer going be there for long.

Taking care of all the medical issues of a mesothelioma patient is not . It is important to take care of some other factors pertaining to the patient. Care & importance should also be given to his spiritual, emotional & financial well being. There's a quantity of changes that are expected to occur in a mesothelioma patient. Therefore it gets imperative to alter your scope towards him as well. Usually a mesothelioma patient gets frustrated easily & sometimes feels lazy. Another great factor which has a large effect on the mesothelioma patient is the place where he will be given the treatment whether it would be his house or the hospital.

Hospital care:
Hospital care is ofcourse ideal because the nurses, doctors & the care equipments are always there. If the patient is at severe stage of mesothelioma then it is better to keep him or her in the hospital

Caring for a mesothelioma patient at home:
Usually people tend to take care of their loved three who is suffering from mesothelioma at home. They get their medical requirements at home so that the patient is not out of touch with his relatives & doesn’t miss anything. It is an important part for his recovery. You can avail the services of home nurses or professional home care services.