The diseases that are linked with asbestos can be hard to diagnose and treat, if you or any of your family members is developing the asbestos-related diseases, or if the treatment has just started, it is very important to have sufficient knowledge about this disease and what it entails. Like any other medical conditions or treatments, it is great to discuss with your physician about the stages you need to go through with this asbestos-related disease.

Diagnosis

When your healthcare professional detects that you are having an asbestos-related disease, he/she will normally begin working on a diagnosis by determining the chances of asbestos exposure by conducting a thorough medical tests and history. He/She will do some physical examinations with one or more of these:

• Chest x-ray
• Computer tomography
• Pulmonary function tests
• CT scan
• And/or magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scan

When one or more tests show something very suspicious, your healthcare professional may recommend a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. A biopsy can either be a needle biopsy or an open biopsy. With needle biopsy, the fluid is taken away and examined for cancerous cells. With an open biopsy, a surgeon shall make a small incision in the chest wall or abdominal cavity and take a tissue as a sample to be examined for cancerous cells.

When the fluid or the tissue has been acquired, a pathologist will be called by your healthcare professional to examine the sample to know if there is a kind of cancer or illness in the cells. If the pathologist confirms that there is an illness, your healthcare professional will recommend treatment.

Non-cancerous Disease Treatment

Unluckily, there are just few treatments available for patients diagnosed with non-cancerous lung illnesses due to exposure to asbestos and there is no cure for asbestosis or other lung illnesses caused by acute exposure to asbestos.

Hence, treatment entails avoiding more complications and treating the symptoms.

The most significant steps are to prevent more exposure and stop any tobacco or cigarette smoking activities. When procedures are conducted, these illnesses may either remain unchanging or develop into more chronic even if there is no further exposure. These illnesses hardly retreat.