Diagnosing Mesothelioma: MRIs
Mesothelioma is an asbestos cancer that affects the lining that protects many of the organs in the human body. It is typically caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers, but has been found in situations where asbestos exposure was not in evidence. Mesothelioma is very hard to diagnose, as many of the symptoms can also be related to other diseases. Advanced scanning and imaging procedures are making it easier.
Most often mesothelioma is found on the lungs and in the chest cavity. The protective lining here is called the pleura. This location makes sense as the fibers from asbestos floating through the air can be inhaled in large numbers. The fibers can also be swallowed and cause damage lower in the body. The peritoneum is the lining in the abdomen that protects and lubricates the stomach and the bowels. The third most common area that is affected by mesothelioma is the pericardium, or the sac around the heart. Mesothelioma can and does affect other parts of the body as well. When fibers infest the lining, it can cause cells to mutate. Mutated cells may affect healthy cells around them and reproduce very quickly. Tumors can and do cause extensive damage in the body. It is also possible for the tumors to metastasize and spread out throughout the body.
Diagnosing Mesothelioma
There are a number of mesothelioma symptoms that may develop in someone who has developed the cancer. If the cancer has appeared in the chest cavity, the patient may feel chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue. They may also wheeze and cough. If the cancer has spread far enough, the individual may also begin to cough up blood. If the tumor is located in the abdomen, the patient may experience stomach pain and swelling. Rapid weight loss can occur and the bowels may stop functioning correctly. When the disease has gone far enough, a person may begin to experience an abnormal amount of blood clots in the system. They may also become jaundiced and their eyes and skin may become yellow in color. In very extreme cases, internal organs may begin to bleed. The difficulty with diagnosing these problems is that theses symptoms, especially the initial ones, can be found in a wide variety of diseases, some of them having nothing to do with cancer.
MRI
Scanning and developing an image of the interior of the body without cutting the body open is incredibly valuable. One of the most basic ways to perform this kind of scan is the x-ray. It is limited in its use due to the production of two-dimensional pictures with images that are made up of lighter and darker areas. In a computed tomography, CT scan, a large number of x-ray pictures are taken of the body from different angles around the same point. These scans can produce three-dimensional images. These images still have no color, though, and are simple black and white images of the tissues, predominantly bones and harder tissues.
The next step up the ladder of technology is the magnetic resonance imaging scan or MRI. In this procedure, a body is slid into a machine and bombarded with electromagnetic waves. These waves cause the hydrogen atoms, and their magnetic fields, to align. Radio waves are then used to change the alignment of the fields. The hydrogen atoms begin to emit their own weak radio signals, which may be manipulated by other magnetic fields and then captured by the scanning device. Different tissues will put off different radio wave frequencies that allow a computer to determine what kind of tissue is sending the wave. This means that different tissues in the body are going to have a lot of contrasts, which can be turned into colors in the visual representation of the image and allow cancer doctors to easily see where something might be wrong. MRI scans are used in many different applications, including those outside the medical profession.
In a lot of situations, the MRI scan is done in conjunction with a positron emission tomography, or PET, scan, although a PET scan is most often done along with a CAT scan.. The PET scan can even detect biochemical processes to let doctors know what certain organs and tissues are doing. When the two of these scans are used together, they occur at the same time and using the same machine. The two different results from the scans are correlated and compared to tell medical professionals a lot of information about the interior of the body.
Treatment
The importance of finding a cancerous tumor as early as possible cannot be over stated. An MRI will allow doctors to find even the smallest tumor in the body and begin a specific mesothelioma treatment program, which will often includes surgery. Treatment of the cancer in an early stage not only increases the odds that an individual will survive the illness, it will also help to prevent the spread of the cancer to other areas in the body.
- Early Detection of Mesothelioma Crucial
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