MRI Imaging May Be Superior to CT for Pleural Mesothelioma Diagnosis and Staging
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MRI Imaging May Be Superior to CT for Pleural Mesothelioma Diagnosis and Staging

ByAlex Strauss

When it comes to diagnosing and monitoring treatment response in people with pleural mesothelioma, MRI imaging may be better than CT.  That is the message from a new Italian study published in the online medical journal Cancers.  RIght now, CT (computed tomography) is the most popular form of imaging for pleural mesothelioma. Cancer doctors use CT images to help diagnose mesothelioma. They also use it to see how widespread the cancer is and to find out if treatment is making a difference.  But radiology researchers at Pisa University Hospital say MRI imaging has advantages over CT for people with the rare asbestos cancer.  Mesothelioma Diagnosis and Prognosis  Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the most serious of several health conditions linked to…

Biomarkers in Pleural Effusions Can Improve Mesothelioma Diagnosis
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Biomarkers in Pleural Effusions Can Improve Mesothelioma Diagnosis

ByAlex Strauss

Italian scientists say some newly identified biomarkers in pleural effusions are very good at ruling out mesothelioma in patients who do not have the disease.  Unfortunately, most of these biomarkers are not as good as positively identifying mesothelioma. But their accuracy can be improved by combining several of them.  Pleural effusions are pockets of excess fluid that collect around the lungs of people with certain kinds of cancer and other conditions.  Mesothelioma biomarkers in pleural effusions are proteins and other substances that are mostly found in mesothelioma patients. The new study suggests that using these biomarkers the right way can lead to more accurate diagnoses. The Importance of Biomarkers in Pleural Effusions Pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the…