The 4 Stages of Lung Cancer By Randolph Meresmaa

Lung cancer is a disease that is very hard to cure with conventional medicine. About 80% of all cases of newly diagnosed lung cancer are the non-small cell type (NSCLC). A majority of these patients will
have inoperable disease on the basis of distant metastases or locally advanced disease. For the remaining patients with early stage disease as well as selected patients with locally advanced disease, surgery remains the best hope for cure.

Less than 15% of all patients can presently be expected to be cured of their disease. The changes that a patient has of being cured depends of the stage he/she is at. There are 4 stages of lung cancer and each stages requires different treatments, although none of these treatments unfortunately is very effective. Doctors may use several tests to accurately stage a lung cancer, including laboratory tests, X-rays, CT scans, bone scans, and MRI scans.

The 4 stages of lung cancer are

1) Stage 1 disease - Patients that have this early stage typically have no symptoms and most are cured with primary surgical excision. The tumors are mostly found on a routine chest radiograph. Nowadays many tumors are detected while they are still very small with computed tomography (CT). Morbidity and mortality increase with higher stages of disease and extended resections. The overall five-year survival for patients with completely resected stage I NSCLC is approximately 75%.

2) Stage 2 disease - Patients with T1-2N1 represent a small subset in the spectrum of this disease, usually comprising less than 10% of patients coming to surgery. The overall five-year survival of patients with Stage 2 tumors is approximately 50-60%. In this stage the tumors also start to invade the mediastinal pleura, fat, nerves, and pericardium, but not the major mediastinal vessels or organs.

3) Stage 3 disease - The preffered treatment for for patients in Stage 3 A is complete resection via lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection. Patients with left upper lobe tumors. have the best prognosis of all, with five-year survival rates as high as 42% when completely resected. Computed Tomography (CT) scanning 5 year survival rate is approximately 30% following complete surgical resection. Patients with Stage 3 B are considered inoperable. The five-year survival for patients with
T4 (carina) N0 tumors undergoing tracheal sleeve pneumonectomy has been reported to approach 20%.

4) Stage 4 disease - Surgery for this stage is only limited for young, healthy patients with a solitary site of metastatic disease, and an easily resectable primary tumor contained within the chest. Five-year survival in these patients should approach 20%. Even if a cure is not obtained, survival is prolonged and quality of life improved.

Over 350 non-toxic natural and alternative treatments that have helped thousands of people beat their cancer. Over 2,000 testimonials! Success rates for surgery, chemo and radiation revealed! Free information on financial and other help available. Download this set of 4 e-Books and Reports NOW. It could save your life. http://naturalcancertreatmentsthatwork.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Randolph_Meresmaa

Prognosis For Lung Cancer - Treatment Review By Jenny Jackson

Can your cancer lung prognosis be improved? Cancer survivor, Karon Beattie, has compiled a cancer treatment reference book detailing over 350 alternative cancer treatments used by thousands of people who beat cancer. Although lung cancer is not always responsive to conventional cancer treatments, Beattie gives numerous accounts of people surviving lung cancer using alternative treatments. She states that these treatments are not covered by the FDA and usually not patentable by drug companies, resulting in poor knowledge among doctors.

Specifically in relation to lung cancer, Beattie's book, "Natural Cancer Treatments That Work", describes cases where a combination of nutritional supplements cured a patient's lung cancer. She gives an account of an across-the-counter supplement that nearly doubled the tumor response rate for non-small cell lung cancer in conjunction with chemotherapy.

Beattie goes on to describe how nine men with untreatable lung cancer experienced major improvements in their conditions after taking a common vitamin.

Beattie further describes a treatment that heats tumors without damaging surrounding tissue, resulting in survival rates of 91% at eighteen months after diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer for patients who had failed to respond to chemotherapy and radiation. This seems an astonishing outcome for a cancer given a poor prognosis by oncologists.

Beattie goes on to detail how a patented soup of cancer-fighting ingredients reversed a woman's stage IV non-small cell lung cancer and how a 54-year-old man eliminated a bean-sized tumor on his right lung after five weeks taking a mineral originally found in Lourdes, France, now more widely available. In addition, the author has collected first-hand accounts from 156 people who overcame lung cancer using natural and alternative treatments. It seems incredible that if stories like this are true, that they are not standard treatment for lung and other cancers.

Beattie says that the creators of the treatments detailed in her book, include respected Nobel Prize winners, biochemists, doctors, scientists and Ph.D.'s. She believes that many doctors may be unaware of these treatments because they only prescribe, and indeed are trained to prescribe treatments regulated by the FDA. Many of the alternative treatments she lists involve herbs and vitamins that are outside the jurisdiction of the FDA. Yet they are available.

Beattie does not advocate self-treatment and provides a detailed guide on where cancer patients can get these sorts of treatment and support.

Stories like these are hard to ignore for cancer sufferers and their loved ones who surely deserve the best available treatments.

Natural Cancer Treatments That Work is available from Alternative Medicine for Cancer Also available is a free guide on where to get treatment and support as well as free articles on cancer treatment options.

Prognosis For Lung Cancer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jenny_Jackson

Asbestos and the Risk of Peritoneal Mesothelioma By Ally J Smith

Asbestos is a natural mineral that was once used in the construction and home improvement industries. It was put on ceilings when it was mixed with aertex, it was used to make surfaces semi flame resistant and it was also mixed with cement as it is very strong. At one point asbestos was seen as a revolution for these industries as it was just so versatile - it was also deadly. No one realised at the time that every time they were exposed to asbestos that they were taking their life in their hands and putting themselves in grave danger. Asbestos is now banned but its legacy lives on in the thousands of people who are feeling the after effects of being exposed to it over the years.

Exposure to asbestos is directly related to certain types of cancer, including peritoneal mesothelioma which is cancer of the membranes in the abdominal cavity. Peritoneal mesothelioma is the second rarest form of mesothelioma and each year it is responsible for around 20% of the cases of diagnosed mesothelioma. As exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of peritoneal mesothelioma there are two main ways that doctors believe that it can actually reach the abdominal wall. One way is through the digestion of asbestos fibres which is actually easy than most might think. Once in the digestive system the asbestos fibres get stuck in the peritoneum and over time this can result in peritoneal mesothelioma. The second way that asbestos gets to the abdomen is through the lymph nodes and lungs when asbestos is inhaled. In some cases pleural mesothelioma will result in peritoneal mesothelioma ad the asbestos moves through the lungs and into the abdominal cavity if left untreated and undiagnosed for some months.

Suspicion of peritoneal mesothelioma is usually made when a patient exhibits signs such as pain in the abdomen, chest or stomach and many suspect hernias are actually created by a tumour caused by peritoneal mesothelioma. Often a misdiagnosis that does not include peritoneal mesothelioma can be made and this can have severe repercussions on the life expectancy of a patient. It is usual for someone who is thought to have peritoneal mesothelioma to have to undergo many tests to get a correct diagnosis and these tests are imaging scans and tissue biopsies.

Patients who are found to have peritoneal mesothelioma do not have a good prognosis. However if a diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma is made early enough they could have surgery to remove the disease and some cases it can extend a patient's life span for a few more years. If surgery is not an option then chemotherapy or radiotherapy can help although there is no guarantee that this will make much of a difference. It is essential that a person with peritoneal mesothelioma gets the right kind of treatment for any pain that they experience so that they are as comfortable as they can be. Peritoneal mesothelioma, like the other forms of mesothelioma is highly unpleasant and hard to live with.

Looking for information about Mesothelioma? Our website provides many useful information including mesothelioma symptoms, mesothelioma treatments and mesothelioma stages. The site also provided details information about different type of mesothelioma: Malignant Mesothelioma, Pleural Mesothelioma, Pericardial mesothelioma and Peritoneal mesothelioma.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ally_J_Smith

How Asbestos Causes Mesothelioma By Frederick Schenk

How asbestos fibers enter the lungs

Asbestos is a term for a group of magnesium silicates that have fibrous structure. Asbestos minerals consist of fibers that are easily separable. Individual fibers are extremely small and fine, light enough to be carried in the air. Doctors who treat lung disease consider all forms of asbestos dangerous, and capable of causing cancer. The six most common are amosite, chrysotile, crocidolite, and the fibrous varieties of tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite. Amphibole forms of asbestos, whose fibers are straight, are more likely to cause disease than chrysotile, whose fibers are curved.

In the course of mining, manufacturing and installing products using asbestos, tiny fibers are dislodged and become airborne. Workers in an environment where asbestos is used cannot avoid inhaling the airborne fibers. Poor ventilation and insufficient or no protective apparatus increase exposure to this lethal fiber. Workers have described mining and factory environments where the air was white with asbestos dust, and their clothes and hair were covered within the fine white fibers.

How asbestos fibers damage the lungs

Most fibers are cleared from the lungs within hours of inhalation. Coughing carries them to the throat in a layer of mucus, where they are either spit out, or swallowed, and make their way out of the body.

Not all inhaled asbestos is cleared from the lungs. Some fibers progress into the alveoli, the tiny pockets within the lungs where oxygen is exchanged with the bloodstream. The fibers may remain for years, even the rest of a person's life. Amphibole asbestos fibers, which are longer and straighter than chrysotile fibers, tend to remain in the lung the longest.

Asbestos fibers move toward the lower portion of the lungs and the diaphragm, the large muscle that moves the lungs in breathing, which sits just under the lungs. In autopsies, most asbestos disease of the lungs is seen the bottom lobes of the lungs and on the surface of the diaphragm. Asbestos fibers which lodge in lung tissue and are not expelled continue to damage the tissue as long as they stay there, as the mesothelioma grows slowly and silently. Symptoms may not appear for 15 to 40 years after exposure.

Asbestos fibers and mesothelioma

Asbestos fibers work their way through the lungs into the pleural cavity, the space in the chest where the lungs sit. The asbestos fibers invade the mesothelium, the thin, moist, flexible tissue that lines the cavity. Mesothelioma specialists have two theories about how asbestos in the pleural cavity causes mesothelioma. One theory is that as the asbestos fibers migrate through the pleural cavity, they enter tissue walls and irritate tissues. The irritated cells respond by forming scar tissue. The mesothelial cells show an inflammatory immune response, scarring, and eventually the uncontrolled proliferation of cells that is the hallmark of cancer.

The second theory focuses on events at a molecular level, speculating that asbestos fibers interact with individual mesothelial cells, interfering with their cell division, or possibly damaging the cell's DNA during mitosis, or cell division. The part of the DNA that regulates the cells' growth and reproduction is damaged, so that reproduction is no longer controlled. Cells begin to reproduce wildly. This uncontrolled cell growth creates the thickened cancerous tissue and eventually begins to invade other organs.

Although the highest risk of developing mesothelioma comes from prolonged exposure to asbestos fiber, some people who develop mesothelioma have had only very brief exposure. The first symptoms of mesothelioma may not show up for 15, sometimes for as long as 30 or 40 years after the victim's exposure to asbestos. By the time symptoms are painful enough for a victim to seek medical attention, the disease may have progressed so far that life expectancy will be measured in months.

If you or a loved one has received a diagnosis of mesothelioma, and you believe that the mesothelioma developed as a result of workplace exposure to asbestos, you may have a legal claim against the corporation that permitted the exposure, or the manufacturer of the asbestos product. To learn more about your rights, you should consult a lawyer who specializes in asbestos claims.

http://www.californiaasbestoslaw.com/casey.htm California mesothelioma attorney Frederick Schenk, has represented individuals who have received a diagnosis of mesothelioma and other asbestos caused diseases since 1983. His work has achieved http://www.californiaasbestoslaw.com compensation for mesothelioma victims from the companies that manufactured, installed and sold asbestos products throughout the United States.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frederick_Schenk

Mesothelioma is Almost Always Caused by Exposure to Asbestos By Wayne Wilkinson

Every organ in our body has a thin lining around it. This lining is made up of cells called mesothelial cells. The mesothelium (lining) that is made up of mesothelial cells lines the thoracic cavity, heart and abdominal cavity. Due to some factors, the mesothelial cells divide uncontrollably, become abnormal and cannot be stopped. When this happens in the lungs, then you will be diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma.

In the United States, there are 3000 cases of pleural mesothelioma yearly. Of these 3000 cases more than half of them are men. Depending on the time of diagnosis and its metastasis, the prognosis is usually poor. If it has spread to many parts then you will probably have 1 year to live.

This fatal illness is mainly caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a mineral that occurs naturally and is is mined from rocks found in different countries. It is composed of small fibers as strong as the metal steel. These fibers can be woven and are resistant to chemicals or heat. Back in the days, asbestos was used for construction, insulation, ship building and in many household appliances.

When this asbestos is damaged or destroyed in anyway, tiny fibers are released into the air. When you inhale them, they go into the smallest spaces in the lungs where you cannot cough them out. When the body realizes there is a foreign object, it tries to get rid of it by breaking it down into pieces. By breaking it down, this causes injury to the body and inflammation happens. In 10-30 years you will develop pleural mesothelioma. If you are a construction worker, electrician, ship builder, lumber, demolition worker or a boiler maker then you have a high chance of getting exposed to this deadly mineral.

If you work in these places and have a family or live with friends, there is a high chance you are bringing this fibers home and this can cause the same disease to other people. Therefore when someone has pleural mesothelioma it many not necessarily be caused by first hand exposure to asbestos, it may be the person you live with who comes home with the fibers on this cloths or even hair. This is not a contagious illness therefore do not be cautious if living with a sick person.

The other cause of pleural mesothelioma is exposure to radiation. If you happen to work in a radiation department or you are exposed to ultraviolet rays, this can cause over growth of cells in any organ causing cancer. You are expected to wear protective gear when in a radiation room. Patients that have also had X-rays done with the use of thorium dioxide were later diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. During a study, they suspected that a simian virus which was a component of the polio vaccine used in the early 1960s caused mesothelioma but this was not definite. In the meantime a study is being conducted in the U.K to find more causes of this disease.

For help locating a mesothelioma cancer lawyer please visit:http://www.MesotheliomaLawsuitExperts.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wayne_Wilkinson