How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure About Biogarphy 

Source(google.com.pk)
Your doctor will diagnose an asbestos-related lung disease based on your past exposure to asbestos, your symptoms, a physical exam, and test results.

Specialists Involved
Your primary care doctor, such as a family doctor or internist, may provide ongoing care if you have an asbestos-related lung disease. Other specialists also may be involved in your care, including a:
Pulmonologist. This is a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating lung diseases.
Radiologist. This is a doctor who is specially trained to supervise x-ray tests and look at x-ray pictures.
Surgeon or oncologist. An oncologist is a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating cancer. The surgeon or oncologist may take a tissue sample from your lungs to study under a microscope.
Pathologist. A pathologist is a doctor who specializes in identifying diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope. A pathologist may study your tissue sample.

Exposure to Asbestos
Your doctor will want to know about your history of asbestos exposure. He or she may ask about your work history and your spouse's or other family members’ work histories.
Your doctor also may ask about your location and surroundings. For example, he or she may ask about areas of the country where you've lived.
If you know you were exposed to asbestos, your doctor may ask questions to find out:
How much asbestos you were exposed to. For example, were you surrounded by visible asbestos dust?
How long you were exposed to asbestos and how often during that time you were in direct contact with it.

Symptoms
Your doctor may ask whether you have any symptoms, such as shortness of breath or coughing. The symptoms of asbestos-related lung diseases vary. They depend on which disease you have and how much it has damaged your lungs.
Your doctor also may ask whether you smoke. Smoking, along with asbestos exposure, raises your risk for lung cancer.

Physical Exam
Your doctor will listen to your breathing with a stethoscope to find out whether your lungs are making any strange sounds.
If you have a pleural effusion with a lot of fluid buildup, your doctor might hear a dull sound when he or she taps on your chest. Or, he or she might have trouble hearing any breathing sounds. If you have asbestosis, your doctor may hear a crackling sound when you breathe in.
Your doctor will check your legs for swelling, which may be a sign of lung-related problems. He or she also will check your fingers and toes for clubbing.
Clubbing is the widening and rounding of the fingertips and toes. Clubbing most often is linked to heart and lung diseases that cause lower-than-normal blood oxygen levels.
Chest X RayA chest x ray is the most common test for detecting asbestos-related lung diseases. This painless test creates pictures of the structures inside your chest, such as the lungs
A chest x ray can’t detect asbestos fibers in the lungs. However, it can show asbestos-related diseases, such as pleural plaque and pleural effusion. Pleural effusion also can be a sign of a more severe disease, such as mesothelioma.

A chest x ray also can show asbestosis. Often the lung tissue will appear very white on the x-ray pictures. The size, shape, location, and degree of whiteness can help your doctor figure out how much lung damage you have. Severe asbestosis may affect the whole lung and have a honeycomb look on the x-ray pictures.
If you have lung cancer, a chest x ray may show masses or abnormal fluid.
If you have mesothelioma, a chest x ray will show thickening of the pleura. The pleura is the tissue around the lungs and diaphragm (the muscle below your lungs). The chest x ray also will usually show signs of pleural effusion in people who have mesothelioma.

Other Diagnostic Tests
To help confirm a chest x-ray finding, or to find out how much lung damage you have, you may have more tests.Chest Computed Tomography Scan
A chest computed tomography (to-MOG-ra-fee) scan, or chest CT scan, is a painless test that creates precise pictures of the structures inside your chest, such as your lungs. A CT scan is a type of x ray, but its pictures show more detail than standard chest x-ray pictures.
A chest CT scan may be very helpful for finding asbestosis in its earliest stages, before a standard chest x ray can detect it.Lung Function Tests
Lung function tests measure how much air you can breathe in and out, how fast you can breathe air out, and how well your lungs deliver oxygen to your blood.
These tests can show whether your lung function is impaired. They also can help your doctor track your disease over time.

Biopsy
The only way to confirm a diagnosis of lung cancer or mesothelioma is for a pathologist to check samples of your lung cells or tissues. A pathologist is a doctor who identifies diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope.
Doctors have many ways to collect tissue samples. One way is through bronchoscopy (bron-KOS-ko-pee). For this procedure, your doctor will pass a thin, flexible tube through your nose (or sometimes your mouth), down your throat, and into your airways. He or she will then take a sample of tissue from your lungs.

If your doctor thinks you have mesothelioma, you may have a thoracoscopy (thor-ah-KOS-ko-pee). For this procedure, you'll be given medicine so you don't feel any pain.
Your doctor will make a small cut through your chest wall. He or she will put a thin tube with a light on it into your chest between two ribs. This allows your doctor to see inside your chest and get tissue

Asbestos exposure has been attributed as a root cause for many types of health complications, with some being more serious than others. Many of these complications affect the respiratory system and can impact breathing and lung function. Because mesothelioma symptoms may be similar (i.e. chronic cough, chest pain, or difficulty breathing) to other respiratory ailments, it is important to discuss specific situations with mesothelioma doctors, especially for those who have a known asbestos-exposure history. Specialists like Dr. Sugarbaker and others can help make an accurate mesothelioma diagnosis.

Though asbestos was once considered a “miracle mineral”, since the days of the Holy Roman Empire it has been apparent that asbestos causes severe pulmonary problems. Even centuries ago, naturalists like Pliny the Elder noted that the slaves who mined asbestos suffered from “sickness of the lungs” and died at an early age.

However, asbestos diseases really didn’t garner attention until the early to mid 1900s, when asbestos use was at its peak and more and more individuals were getting sick due to exposure to this toxic mineral, which was primarily used as insulation but was also added to myriad other manufactured goods including a wide variety of building products.

Though researchers don’t fully understand why some individuals develop asbestos diseases and others do not, evidence points to the fact that length and intensity of exposure may have something to do with it. However, experts agree that no amount of asbestos exposure is safe

Life with an Asbestos Disease
Because they affect the lungs and inhibit breathing, living with an asbestos disease can be quite difficult. Both asbestosis and mesothelioma patients will require certain procedures or treatments that serve to lessen symptoms of the disease and aim to improve quality of life. Unfortunately, however, both diseases eventually claim the lives of their victims.
Most individuals who’ve developed asbestos diseases were exposed to the mineral without knowing it was toxic. Though many employers knew of the dangers of asbestos, many continued to use it without regard for employees’ health and never provided masks or other gear that may have prevented inhalation of asbestos fibers. This negligence has negatively impacted not only the lives of thousands of victims but their loved ones as well.

Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive form of asbestos cancer for which the only known cause is exposure to asbestos. It affects about 2,000 to 3,000 Americans each year. Like asbestosis, it can take as much as 50 years to be diagnosed because it has a long latency period. That means it remains silent in the body for decades, finally appearing via symptoms like cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest pain, and fatigue.

Because asbestos exposure is the only cause of mesothelioma cancer, those individuals who exhibit these symptoms must be sure to inform their doctor of their past exposure. He will most likely order x-rays, MRIs, or CT scans to determine the presence of a tumor, which usually appears in the pleura – the lining of the lungs. The imaging tests will be followed by a biopsy, which can determine whether or not the tumor is malignant. Once a definitive diagnosis is made, the patient will meet with an oncologist or medical team to determine the best course of treatment.

Mesothelioma Lung Cancer
Lung cancer, which is different than mesothelioma because it actually occurs in the lung tissue as opposed to the mesothelium, can also be attributed to asbestos exposure. There are general sub-classifications of lung cancer. These are small cell and non-small cell which are assigned based on how the cancer cells appear within the lung tissue. Each of these types has appeared in those exposed to asbestos.

Asbestos Lung Cancer
Mesothelioma, while extremely rare, is still the most common malignancy associated with asbestos exposure. Pure lung cancers have also been connected with asbestos exposure, though it is also possible for mesothelioma to spread into the affected lung from the pleura or peritoneum. Lung cancers caused by asbestos exposure are known to be more common in those with other mitigating risk factors, including smoking.

Asbestosis, also known as diffuse pulmonary fibrosis, can take anywhere from 10-30 years to develop. That means those who are diagnosed with asbestosis may have been exposed to asbestos as much as 30 years before the disease is diagnosed.

Asbestosis is characterized by severe shortness of breath, which is generally the first symptom to appear. At first, this is only evident after exertion but may eventually happen even during rest. Other symptoms include tightness in the chest, dry cough, loss of appetite, fatigue, and – when the disease reaches an advanced stage – clubbing of the fingers.

This disease is generally diagnosed by means of a chest x-ray which can show scarring, as well as testing with more sophisticated imaging including MRIs or CT scans. If asbestosis is suspected, an open lung biopsy will most likely be performed.

If you are experiencing such symptoms and have worked with asbestos in the past, it is essential that you inform your doctor as to your history with this toxic mineral. It may help speed a diagnosis.
There is currently no cure for asbestosis but doctors can suggest treatments and other procedures that can serve to lessen its symptoms and make patients more comfortable. It is also essential that those who have asbestosis stop smoking immediately. Smokers with asbestosis are much more likely to develop mesothelioma – asbestos-caused cancer.

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013

How Much Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma Lawyers 2013