Study Confirms Value of Medical Thoracoscopy for Mesothelioma Diagnosis, According to Surviving Mesothelioma
Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) August 18, 2016 -- Doctors in Italy say medical thoracoscopy, a procedure that uses a small camera to perform biopsies and treatments in the chest, has gotten better over the last three decades, making it possible to more accurately diagnose diseases like malignant mesothelioma. Surviving Mesothelioma has just posted an article on the new research. Click here to read it now.
Pulmonary medicine specialists at the Spedali Civili Hospital in Brescia evaluated the diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy in more than 2,700 patients with pleural mesothelioma or other pleural diseases over a 30 year period.
They found that the overall likelihood that medical thoracoscopy, also called pleuroscopy, would enable a diagnosis was better than it has ever been.
“Medical thoracoscopy has a great diagnostic yield that can be improved by practice, permitting to achieve a specific histological diagnosis in about 80 percent of patients,” concludes study author Alberto Valsecchi, MD.
The study, published in the newest issue of the Annals of Thoracic Medicine, found that mesothelioma patients with pleural effusion or excessive lung fluid, had a greater diagnostic yield from thoracoscopy than people without this fluid.
“Although it is the most common type of mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma is notoriously difficult to diagnose,” notes Surviving Mesothelioma Managing Editor, Alex Strauss. “This study suggests that thoracoscopy, in the hands of experienced surgeons, may improve the process.”
To read the details of the new study and find out how medical thoracoscopy may aid in mesothelioma diagnosis, see Study Confirms Value of Medical Thoracoscopy for Mesothelioma Diagnosis, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.
Source:
Valsecchi, A, et al, “Medical thoracoscopy: Analysis on diagnostic yield through 30 years of experience”, August 2016, Annals of Thoracic Medicine, pp. 177-182, http://www.thoracicmedicine.org/article.asp?issn=1817-1737;year=2016;volume=11;issue=3;spage=177;epage=182;aulast=Valsecchi
Michael Ellis, Cancer Monthy, http://www.survivingmesothelioma.com, +1 (919) 570-8595, [email protected]
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