Testing benign pleural effusion

Benign mesotheliomas can often benign pleural effusion. often be removed surgically, are generally not benign pleural effusion life-threatening, and are not usually related to asbestos exposure. Malignant mesotheliomas, however, are very serious. Fortunately, they are rare - about two thousand people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the U.S. each year.

Pleural mesothelioma is a cancer of the cells that make up the pleura or lining around the outside of the lungs and inside of the ribs. Its only known cause in the U.S. is previous exposure to asbestos fibers, including chrysotile, amosite or crocidolite. Exposure to these fibers within ten years of a diagnosis of this type of cancer can be considered as a likely contributing factor in the disease process. It is the most common type of mesothelioma, accounting for about 75% of all cases.

Mesothelioma is sometimes diagnosed by coincidence, before there are any symptoms. For instance, tumors have been discovered through routine chest x-rays. However, when symptoms occur, they may include shortness of breath, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, chest pains, lower back pains, persistent coughing, difficulty in swallowing, alone or in combination. An initial medical examination often shows a pleural effusion, which means an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space - the area between the lungs and the chest wall.

The actual diagnosis usually requires obtaining a piece of tissue through a biopsy. This could be a needle biopsy, an open biopsy, or through a tube with a camera (thoracoscopy or chest scope.) If an abnormality is seen through the camera then a tissue sample can be taken at the same time, using the same tube. This is a hospital procedure that requires anesthesia, but is not usually painful. The tissue sample is tested by a pathologist.

Fluid build-up from the pleural effusion can generally be seen on a chest x-ray and heard during a physical examination, but a firm diagnosis of mesothelioma can only be made through a biopsy and pathological testing. This is important because there are also benign pleural effusions and other tumors that have a similar appearance to mesothelioma. Diagnosing mesothelioma can be quite difficult; it requires special lab stains, and much experience in understanding them.

The spread of the tumor over the pleura causes pleural thickening. This can reduce the flexibility of the pleura and encase the lungs in an increasingly restrictive girdle. With the lungs restricted, they get smaller and less functional, and breathing becomes more difficult. At first a person with mesothelioma may be breathless only when he or she exercises, but as lung function drops, he or she can become short of breath even while resting.

Current medical science does not know exactly how and why, at a cellular level, asbestos fibers cause mesothelial cells to become abnormal (malignant or cancerous.) Thus it is not known whether only one fiber causes the tumor or whether it takes many fibers. It seems that asbestos fibers in the pleura can start a tumor as well as promote its growth; the tumor does not depend on any other processes for its development.

There is as yet no known cure for malignant mesothelioma. The prognosis depends on various factors, including the size and stage of the tumor, the extent of the tumor, the cell type, and whether or not the tumor responds to treatment. The Firm has represented many clients who lived for five to ten years after diagnosis, most of them in good health for a majority of those years. Some mesothelioma victims succumb within a few months; the average survival time is about a year.

Benign Asbestos Pleural Effusion: Diagnosis And Course.

We have reviewed 22 patients with benign asbestos pleural effusion seenover a 17-year period. The mean duration of exposure to asbestos was 5.5 years and the mean intervalbetween exposure and presentation was 16.3 years. In five the effusion was asymptomatic. Fever was uncommonbut in 15 of 21 patients the ESR was elevated. Leucocytosis was noted in seven of 20 patients. Autoantibodieswere rarely detected. The pleural fluid was usually blood-stained and the volume aspirated was rarelylarger than 500 ml. Pleural biopsies revealed established pleural fibrosis and/or inflammatory infiltrationwith fibrinous exudate and mesothelial and fibroblastic proliferation. A positive mantoux test was notedin eight of 12 patients but there was no other evidence of tuberculosis. The mean duration to spontaneousresolution of the effusion was 4.3 months. During a follow-up period of 28.1 years from initial exposureto asbestos (mean 22.8 years) and up to 17.2 years from initial presentation with a pleural effusion(mean 6.3 years) seven patients had a single recurrence and only one patient had multiple pleural effusions.Only three patients experienced persistent pleural pain. It was not possible to predict the likelihoodof recurrence of an effusion or the persistence of pleural pain from the data at presentation. No patientsubsequently developed mesothelioma or other neoplasm.

The information provided in this site is general in nature and constitutes neither legal nor medical advice. If you are concerned that you or someone you know is at risk of an asbestos-related disease, please consult your physician and an attorney experienced in asbestos litigation cases.

Benign Postpartum Pleural Effusion

The conditions of labour appear to favour the development of pleural effusion. The frequency of postpartum pleural effusion was investigated in this study using thoracic ultrasonography. Thirty one postpartum and 22 healthy nonpregnant women of the same age-group were examined, both supine and seated, via an intercostal approach. Seven of the 31 (23%) postpartum women had pleural effusion within 1-24 h of normal delivery. None of the nonpregnant women had pleural effusion. No correlation was found between postpartum pleural effusion and age, weight-gain during pregnancy, duration of labour, use of intravenous fluid, or oxytocin administration. Pleural effusion seems to be a common finding postpartum, but of no clinical significance.

Asbestos-related Diseases - Benign Pleural Diseases

There is much confusion about the different types of benign (or non-cancerous) pleural diseases, mainly because different researchers and doctors use different words to describe the same things, or the same words to describe different things.

are small, hard, plate-like surfaces on the pleura, similar to arteriosclerosis in coronary arteries. They are caused by asbestos fibers that invade the pleura from the lungs. Medical researchers do not fully understand the underlying processes of why asbestos fibers cause plaques to develop.

Plaques rarely make breathing difficult and by themselves are seldom disabling. Rather, they are "markers" that indicate previous exposure to asbestos: they can help to confirm the cause of other diseases that might otherwise not be understood to be asbestos-related. However, a person who has plaques should be vigilant about his or her health. He or she may be at higher risk for developing other asbestos-related diseases and should therefore advise his or her doctor about this asbestos exposure.

is a diffuse fibrosis in the pleura. Asbestos fibers that move from the lung to the pleura cause the pleura to thicken and a widespread fibrosis can develop. Researchers do not understand the underlying processes by which asbestos fibers cause fibrosis.

This thickening can restrict the lungs' ability to expand and contract, and therefore make breathing difficult. Like plaques, thickening is evidence of exposure to asbestos and it places people at higher risk of developing other more serious chest diseases.

refers to a build-up of fluid in the pleural space of a person who was exposed to asbestos and who does not have any other disease that might cause a pleural effusion (such as mesothelioma.) Some effusions cause chest pains, but many do not cause any symptoms. This type of benign pleural effusion is treatable, and it should also alert the person to be especially vigilant about his or her respiratory health.