BLAME IT ON THE ASBESTOS

This disease is not that uncommon anymore.? Yet Mesothelioma is still considered by the medical community to be relatively rare. As a terminal disease it is incredibly hard to diagnose accurately, early and treat it effectively. It is progressive and a killer! Asbestos is seen as the major cause for the disease. Even it we do not quite know how, why it develops spreads exactly and how best to treat or cure it. There is no cure.
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There are other related diseases like lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural disease that can also occur. Malignant cancers develop in the lung itself, moving inward and spreading outward, at the same time. It affects all respiratory functioning and breathing becomes problematic. Some are of the opinion that it is the most common asbestos-related cancer found in present or ex-smokers,? who do have a history of some, daily, occasional or prolonged asbestos exposure.
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Asbestosis on the other hand is definitely attributable to asbestos fibers or dust particles that have been inhaled or ingested somehow. The airborne foreign bodies gets lodged in the inner lung, even alveoli and starts taking its toll slowly but surely. Lung , lining and tissue scarring and damage is inevitable and deadly with this progressive yet stealth-like disease.
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Pleural disease is any scarring of the protective layer or lining of the lung. A patient with this diagnosis will have a significantly higher risk of developing full-blown Mesothelioma or related lung diseases attributable to asbestos.
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The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) recently announced a new developmental stage description and classification system for Mesothelioma. They refer to it as the 'TNM system'. It is more in line and somewhat similar to staging systems used for most other cancers diagnostics.
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The letter T indicates tumor (its size and how far it has spread to nearby organs)
N stands for spread to lymph nodes and M is for metastasis (spread to distant organs).
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In TNM staging, information about the "tumor', lymph nodes, and metastasis is combined in a process called stage grouping. This is then assigned to? a certain stage of development or progression that is described by Roman numerals from I to IV.
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