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Mesothelioma and lung cancer Wallpaper Photos Pictures Pics Images 2013

Mesothelioma and lung cancer Biogarphy

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According to medical literature, the earliest mention of a possible tumor of the chest wall (the pleura) was made in 1767 by Joseph Lieutaud, the founder of pathologic anatomy in France. In a publication detailing the study of some 3,000 autopsies he performed, Lieutaud mentioned two cases of “pleural tumors.”
In one, he found fleshy masses adherent to the pleura and the ribs of a deceased boy. In 1819, René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec, the French physician who invented the stethoscope, suggested that malignancy could arise from the pleura, based upon his understanding of the nature of pleural cells.
However, in 1843, Karl Freiherr von Rokitansky, professor of Pathological Anatomy at Vienna University challenged that notion, stating that pleural cancer was always secondary to a primary cancer elsewhere in the body.
Regardless of the lack of compelling evidence, this became the accepted theory of the medical establishment for many years. (Ironically, von Rokitansky later described primary tumors of the peritoneum, likely the first recorded cases of peritoneal mesothelioma.)
Mesothelioma & Asbestos Exposure: Debates & Conclusions
Over the next several decades, various theories about the nature of mesothelioma arose. By the end of the 19th century, experts still disagreed whether this form of cancer began in the lymphatic system and spread to the lungs and abdomen or whether it started from tumors elsewhere in the body.
Doctors also debated whether the cancerous tumors did indeed arise from the mesothelial lining of the pleura and peritoneum themselves. And because research was hampered by the low number of mesothelioma patients, it was difficult to reach a consensus based on so little clinical data.
But by the early 1900s, the medical community began to finally accept that cancers could originate in the pleura without having spread from a primary cancer elsewhere in the body.
Fast Fact:Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer in which malignant cells form in the lining of the lungs (pleura), the lining of the abdominal cavity (peritoneum) or the lining around the heart (pericardium).
In 1909, J.G. Adami coined the term for these types of cancers: mesothelioma. Then in 1931, P. Klemperer and C.B. Rabin established a framework for diagnosing the disease and understanding its pathology.
It was during this time that doctors began to question the causes of mesothelioma, and in 1935, London pathologist Steven Gloyne suggested a possible connection between mesothelioma and occupational asbestos exposure.
Find out more about the different types of mesothelioma cancer.
Historical Studies of Asbestos Exposure & Mesothelioma
In the following decades, the disease became the focus of closer studies, as thousands of workers all over the world died from exposure to the mineral's toxic dust. In 1970 alone, 602 Americans workers died of mesothelioma, a cancer that remains latent in the body for 20 to 50 years.
South African Study
South African crocidolite asbestos
South African crocidolite asbestos
Perhaps the most important study that demonstrated the unmistakable connection between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma was presented by medical researcher J.C. Wagner and physician Chris Sleggs. Sleggs was the medical superintendent of a chest and infectious disease hospital commissioned by the government of South Africa in 1948 in the country’s northwest Cape Province, where crocidolite asbestos was mined.Wagner had been hired by the government’s Ministry of Mines to study occupational hazards associated with asbestos mining. During the course of his research, Sleggs found unusual pleural tumors in the bodies of asbestos workers.
In their paper published by the British Journal of Medicine in 1960, Sleggs and Wagner detailed 33 cases of mesothelioma they discovered, with all but one case having a proven asbestos exposure history. In eight cases, the exposure history was occupational. The rest of the mesothelioma victims merely lived near the mines for most of their lives.
American Study
Other studies followed, most notably the 1964 report of the American physician, Dr. Irving J. Selikoff. He presented his findings at the “Biological Effects of Asbestos” conference, sponsored by the New York Academy of Science. For more than a year, Selikoff examined more than 1,000 workers from the Union Asbestos & Rubber Company plant in Patterson, New Jersey – workers whose jobs included producing asbestos insulation materials for the U.S. Navy.
Selikoff found that the mortality rate among these employees was 25 percent higher than would be expected statistically and that the deceased workers had died from a variety of diseases, including asbestosis, malignant mesothelioma and other cancers of the lung, stomach, colon, rectal and colorectal.British StudyAnother study by British physician, Molly Newhouse, found mesothelioma cases among people who lived near, but were not employed by, a London asbestos factory. By 1968, the British Medical Journal claimed asbestos was the direct cause of most cases of mesothelioma (even though controversy still raged as to what types of asbestos were the most carcinogenic – a contentious argument that still echoes to this day).
But after many years of research, conjecture and controversy, most of the world’s medical establishment had unequivocally accepted two important facts about mesothelioma:The disease was a distinct diagnostic entity.
The association between the disease and asbestos exposure had been proven conclusively.
Need More Information about Mesothelioma?
As doctors conclusively linked mesothelioma to asbestos exposure, some powerful economic and societal forces still argued otherwise. These arguments were made by the asbestos industry itself, which was a multi-billion dollar industry that for decades tried to deny asbestos was the cause of any of the crippling diseases that afflicted thousands of workers and others worldwide who were exposed to the toxic mineral.
Individually, asbestos exposure and smoking lead to the development of multiple cancers and diseases. Asbestos is closely associated with mesothelioma while smoking is often synonymous with lung cancer. Researchers determined that smoking and asbestos exposure collectively can increase the risk of asbestos-related diseases up to 90 percent in some cases, while having little or no causal effect on other diseases.
Inhaled asbestos fibers penetrate varying levels of the body's organs, depending on the size and shape of the fibers. As the lungs and other organs attempt to eliminate the presence of the fibers through a gradual exertion, the asbestos pieces either clears the respiratory areas and exit through mucus or further scar the organ as it remains lodged.
Fast Fact: Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
Smoking is cited as hazardous because the inhalation of thousands of toxic chemical contaminants can cause cancer. When these substances are combined in one product, as done in a cigarette or hookah, they pose a significant threat to human health.
For asbestos-related cancers and diseases like lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, smoking can be a contributing causal factor and further affected when paired with asbestos exposure. Avoidance of smoking can be beneficial to health and caution should always be taken to avoid unnecessary asbestos exposure.
Smoking, Asbestos and Lung Cancer
Smoking, Asbestos and Lung Cancer
With over 200,000 new lung cancer diagnoses each year, understanding the causes and risk facts of this disease is an important task for the medical community. Research demonstrates that there is a multiplicative effect between asbestos, smoking and lung cancer. This means that the damage caused by a combination of these two risk factors is greater than that caused by either smoking or asbestos exposure alone.
One study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, analyzed data sets of 456 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer of stage I or II. Factoring in potential modifiers like age, race and smoking history, researchers determined a direct association between increased risks of lung cancer development among smokers who also were exposed to asbestos.
Inhalation of the chemicals within cigarette smoke as the lungs face already face scarring from asbestos leads to additional respiratory complications. Experts suggest that as the lungs attempt to push asbestos fibers out, continuous scaring occurs when the body faces certain fiber sizes.
Wider asbestos fibers are deposited in the upper respiratory tracts more easily and also have an easier time being cleared from the body. Longer and thinner fibers penetrate the lower tracts and more often get lodged in the lungs. Exposure to nonchrysotile asbestos is more often associated with the development of lung cancer in smokers because chrysotile fibers clear from the body more effectively as a result of their longitudinal splits. However, cases of chrysotile asbestos are documented.
Increased risk of developing lung cancer if a person smokes and has been exposed to asbestos.
Researchers found that people who smoke and have asbestos exposure are between 50 and 90 times more likely to develop lung cancer compared to their smoker counterparts with no such exposure to asbestos. Asbestos exposure causes approximately 4 percent of lung cancer cases while smoking causes nearly 90 percent of cases.
Whenever possible, smoking cigarettes and exposure to secondhand smoke should be avoided. Exposure to asbestos, on the other hand, is not always as easy and obvious to prevent. Proper education, awareness, testing and abatement is likely necessary to mitigate asbestos risks.
Smoking and Asbestosis
Asbestosis is a chronic pulmonary disease in which the lungs undergo slow and repetitive scarring, or fibrosis. There is no known cure. It is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers and is most prevalent among workers with long and extensive exposure to asbestos. The effect of smoking on asbestosis is a point of contentious debate among researchers, with some experts believing smoking leads to asbestosis while others challenge this notion.
Those who believe the two are related, point to the fact that the simultaneous effect of asbestos scaring and inhalation of dangerous chemicals can lead to inflammation and fibrosis of lung tissue, potentially developing into asbestosis. The human body often has difficulty in clearing the respiratory areas of these fibers because of impaired mucociliary, referring to passing the fibers through mucus. However, because the latency associated with asbestosis, clearly defining this connection can be difficult.
The effect of smoking on asbestosis is a point of contentious debate among researchers, with some experts believing smoking leads to asbestosis while others challenge this notion.
According to research by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, smoking increases the risk of asbestosis among asbestos-exposed persons. This is supported by data presented in the 1995 publication in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Titled "Enhanced retention of asbestos fibers in the airways of human smokers," the study concludes that smokers had increased rates of asbestosis progressions.
On the other hand, contrary studies demonstrate opposing theories, showing little to no relationship between asbestosis and smoking. Researchers on this side argue that because of the various complications associated with asbestosis, definitive proof of such a relationship is simply not there.
Significant evidence exists to show how much smoking can in fact worsen symptoms of asbestosis, including breathlessness. However, as to the specifics about how the epidemiology of the disease is affected by smoking, the facts are less known.

Mesothelioma and lung cancer Wallpaper Photos Pictures Pics Images 2013