Pleural mesothelioma is the most common form of the deadly cancer mesothelioma. This type of disease affects the pleural mesothelium, or thin membrane that surrounds the lungs and secretes the lubrication necessary for them to expand and contract during respiration. Without this vital layer of mucous the lungs would not be able to fill with air or expel carbon dioxide.

Unfortunately, this vital but frequently overlooked part of the anatomy is the place mesothelioma strikes the most, because asbestos particles frequently enter the body through normal respiration processes.

Asbestos fibers are small, jagged, need-like shards frequently kicked up into the air during the myriad manufacturing processes that use asbestos for its heat-resistant and flame-retardant qualities. When the asbestos is processed it releases these small fibers into the air which are easily inhaled by workers, shippers, and can even linger on their hair and clothes and follow them home, potentially exposing their families and friends to pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial mesothelioma.

When a person inhales asbestos, it can begin a cascade reaction that more often than not results in terminal mesothelioma. The jagged asbestos shards enter the lungs where they pierce the through the inner layers of the lungs into the pleura mesothelium. Once these shards pierce the mesothelium they begin to fester and sprout potentially cancerous tumors. Pleural mesothelioma is particularly hard to diagnose because it takes many years for the cancer to develop, and once it does the early symptoms are so subtle that they are often confused with less fatal conditions such as the flu or pneumonia.

Common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Pleural effusion (fluid surrounding the lung)
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Hoarseness
• Blood Clots

Sadly, because it takes so long for pleural mesothelioma to display symptoms it is usually so entrenched in the lungs that it is impossible to effectively treat. Further complicating this already difficult situation is that it is extremely likely that the cancerous cells from the lungs will easily circulate throughout the bloodstream, where they can spread cancer to other systems and organs.

Pleural mesothelioma is 100% fatal. Most people usually die within six months after diagnosis, some people survive a year, but few if any survive past five years. New treatments can usually tend to focus on preserving the quality of life for the victims of pleural mesothelioma, but revolutionary treatments such as photodynamic, gene, angiogenesis, and immunotherapy treatments offer hope to those stricken with this terrible disease.

To learn more about

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Tags: mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma

One diagnostic technique being studied to detect early stage breast cancer is Ductal Lavage. Ductal lavage was first thought of by George Pappanicolou - since he felt that all breast cancers start in the ductal system, then why not test cells from the ducts for cancer. He tried to extract fluid and cells from the duct but it was difficult and not many other researchers had an interest in what he was trying to do in the 1950s.

20 years later, some other doctors picked up where Pappanicolou had started and began studies of ductal lavage on the west coast. Dr. Pappanicolou was actually the developer of the pap smear test for cervical cancer, so the ductal lavage technique is often referred to as a “pap smear” for the breast.

Now we know that over 95% of breast cancers start in the cells lining the breast ducts and that it can take 8 to 10 years for cells to grow into a 1 cm tumor that can be felt or seen on a mammogram. A ductal lavage (lavage is French for wash or rinse) consists of flushing cells out of the breast duct using suction and a saline wash.

The procedure involves little to no discomfort. A doctor will apply an anesthetic cream that will numb the nipple area. A breast pump is used to determine which 1-2 ducts will be flushed later in the procedure. When the ducts to be flushed have been located, more anesthetic is put in the duct and a catheter is placed. Salt water is flushed through the catheter into the duct and the cells collected to be looked at by a pathologist.

When a pathologist looks at the cells, he or she is looking for abnormalities which could suggest that cancer might develop at a later date. Women may want to consider preventive measures if abnormalities are found to be present in the breast. Those can include careful monitoring with mammography, clinical breast exams and breast self-exams; prophylactic mastectomy (preventive breast removal) for women at very high risk of breast cancer and the use of the drug tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen.

The presence of abnormal or atypical cells in a woman’s breast does not mean she will develop breast cancer. Studies show that most atypical cell do not become cancer. Because of those findings, ductal lavage is recommended to be performed only on women who are at high risk for developing breast cancer. That would include women with a strong family or personal history of breast cancer, those who carry the BRCA gene mutations and those who have had non-cancerous conditions from prior biopsies. (Lobular carcinoma in situ or atypical hyperplasia)

The procedure is currently available in a few locations across the US., but as more doctors complete the training for the procedure it will become more widely available. In most cases a woman must meet some eligibility requirements in order to have a ductal lavage performed on their breasts.

Dr. Susan Love is one of the biggest advocates for the procedure in the United States. She feels that ductal lavage can help physicians better understand the development of breast cancer along certain groups of women and in addition, help identify women most likely to develop breast cancer based on hereditary and environmental factors.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to breast-cancer.treatment-and-guides.com/ Breast Cancer

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Tags: breast cancer, cervical cancer, mastectomy

Inflammatory breast cancer has no lump or mass that can be felt. It is a very rare and dangerous type of breast cancer. It cannot be detected by self breast examination and mammogram. In inflammatory breast cancer there is infiltration of the skin and lymph vessels of the breast by cancer cells. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are a swollen, red and warm breast which is brought on by the lymph vessels becoming blocked by the breast cancer cells. The breast has a typical appearance of an individual with cellulite. Other symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include, on the affected side, enlarged lymph nodes present under the arm or it may be above the collar bone.

Since it cannot be diagnosed by self breast examination, mammogram, core biopsy, ultrasound scan or even an MRI it is diagnosed by a biopsy, that is, a surgical biopsy or a skin biopsy. Since inflammatory breast cancer is a rapid growing cancer it requires equally aggressive treatment, which includes local treatment and systemic or total body treatment.

The treatment usually starts with chemotherapy, systemic treatment, surgery and then radiation therapy, which are the local treatments; this is then followed by additional chemotherapy and then hormone treatments.

Some of the symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are:

• One breast is larger than the other
• There is a discharge from the nipple
• The skin is warm or hot to the touch
• Swelling of breast
• Orange like texture to the skin
• There is pain and/or the breast feels itchy
• Skin has a red or pink coloration
• There are swollen lymph nodes under the armpit and sometimes there may be swollen lymph nodes of the neck
• The nipples appear to be flattened or inverted
• The entire breast or a small portion of the breast has a rash
• There are ridges or thickened areas of the breast.

If an individual has any of the above symptoms which persist for more than a week it is necessary that the individual speak with her physician who would then take the necessary course of action.

However, sometimes, there are very common mistakes made when it comes to treating inflammatory breast cancer. They are:

• The surgeon may think it is best if the breast is removed and sometimes the breast is removed too early. This early removal of the breast increases the risk of the disease making reappearance.
• Patients may not get the specific chemotherapy dose and also the patient may require two treatments of radiation therapy a day rather than only one treatment, as inflammatory breast cancer is a rapid growing cancer. This is where the importance of an experienced radiologist in inflammatory breast cancer is necessary.
• If a patient has had got the improper or incorrect treatment it will be difficult to go back and improve on the outcome.
•It is extremely difficult to measure the response to the treatment, as a mass or a nodule is not present in inflammatory breast cancer.

There is no particular age at which an individual could get the disease. However, studies have shown that the average age ranges from about 45 and 55 years of age, but patients could be younger or older than this age range. The amount of new cases of inflammatory breast cancer diagnosed every year in the United States varies.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to breast-cancer.treatment-and-guides.com/ Breast Cancer

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Tags: breast cancer, chemotherapy

A team of scientists has discovered a gene that, when it stops working, causes the appearance of colon cancer in it’s sporadic (noninherited) form. This discovery is predicted to create new treatments and new ways of preventing colon cancer. These researchers found out that this particular gene can be activated again by a special medicine, increasing the vulnerability of the colon cancer. This research reconfirms that this gene, called hMLH1, has a major importance in the fight against colon cancer.

Scientists know that if gene isn’t working properly it will come to the development of a type of colon cancer found at people that have no cases in their family. But when it works correctly it stops the DNA from the cells from getting damaged. It does this by producing an enzyme that detects mistakes in the DNA fixing them before the whole cell is corrupted.

If the gene deactivates, the DNA gets tainted with methylation, a substance that makes the cell reproduce itself chaotically producing malformed cells. There is a drug known as 5-azacytide that separates the methylation of the DNA and repairs the cell. But scientists can’t use this drug and they already look for a new one because 5-azacytide is very toxic. This fact was discovered by analyzing several colon cancer patients. At all of them colon cancer started while the age of 50 or 60, just the average time of this kind of cancer.

It is proven that the hMLH1 gene is inactive at colon cancer patients and it’s already known how to activate it again and make it work properly. After activation of this gene patients become more receptive to chemotherapy, this way increasing the chances of destroying the colon tumors they have.

There may be a way of preventing the development of the cancer, if the DNA of the cell can be protected as soon as the gene starts to deactivate.

For greater resources on colon-cancer-center.com/ colon cancer or especially about colon-cancer-center.com/colon-cancer-symptoms.htm colon cancer symptoms please visit this link colon-cancer-center.com/colon-cancer-symptoms.htm colon-cancer-center.com/colon-cancer-symptoms.htm

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Tags: cancer patient, chemotherapy, colon cancer