How is mesothelioma diagnosed?

How is mesothelioma diagnosed?
 Hi. I'm Joe
Williams. I'm a mesothelioma trial attorneyin New York City and I can tell you that there
is generally two ways that physicians (doctors)diagnose mesothelioma. The first way of diagnosing
mesothelioma is a clinical diagnosis. Thatmeans that a doctor is evaluating a patient's
presenting symptoms to draw a picture as towhat this patient could be suffering from.
So the things that are evaluated are thingslike shortness of breath. Often with mesothelioma
victims builds up, it's called a "pleuraleffusion." But it's basically just a buildup
of fluid between a bony ribcage and the lungs.And when the fluid builds up, it pushes on
both the ribs and the lungs. The ribs don'tmove - they're made of bone -- so it pushes
in and impacts the lungs, makes it harderfor the patient to breathe. Shortness of breath
is a known symptom of mesothelioma. Generalfatigue and weakness. Weight loss, substantial
weight loss unexplained in a short periodof time is another factor, another symptom,
that physicians will use to clinical diagnoseor be suspicious of mesothelioma. For mesothelioma
victims, the definite diagnose comes in theform of a biopsy. And for pleural mesothelioma,
it's a biopsy of the pleural. And the pleuralis the lining on the outside of the lung,
sometimes referred to as a "saran wrap likesubstance" that lines the exterior (the outside
of the lung) and doctors will take a biopsyof that surface to determine if a patient
has mesothelioma. And how is that biopsy taken?Well, it's usually taken through a surgical
technique and I would say the most commonone would be a video assisted thoracoscopy,
sometimes known as a VAT (a video assistedthoracoscopy). The doctors go in with several
instruments -- one of which has a camera onit -- and the surgeon (the doctor) can visualize
the area in the chest where the mesotheliomacould be. And with other instruments (and
again, this is a minimally invasive technique)the physicians can take a biopsy (a piece
of flesh). That biopsy material is then takenand sent to a pathology lab within the hospital
and the pathologists (they're specializeddoctors who deal with diagnosing disease from
looking at a slide). The flesh is put ontoa slide and for mesothelioma victims the slides
are often stained in certain ways so thatdifferent cell types can be visualized when
the pathologist looks under a microscope atthe slide. That pathologist then writes out
a report -- it's called a "pathology report"-- and the pathology report is a very important
piece of paper that becomes part of that patient'smedical case because it definitively diagnoses
their disease. And it becomes a very importantpart of their legal case because it definitively
diagnoses them of having been a victim ofpleural mesothelioma. I'm sure you have many
other questions about how mesothelioma isdiagnosed. I'm Joe Williams and at our firm
we handle cases every day for mesotheliomavictims. This is what we do every day and
we can answer your questions. I encourageyou to call our office at the number below
and we'll be happy to answer your questions.Thank you.