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New Study Suggests Mesothelioma Diagnosis May be Possible from Lung Fluid Alone, Reports Surviving Mesothelioma


Researchers in Japan say, if a lung fluid test is done at exactly the right time, it is possible to accurately diagnose mesothelioma without a tissue biopsy. Mesothelioma Diagnosis from Lung Fluid

...correct diagnosis requires effusion-sampling at the right time.”

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) September 10, 2014

A team of Japanese cancer researchers say mesothelioma can be diagnosed using a sample of excess lung fluid – but only if the test is performed at exactly the right time. Click here to read the full story, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.

Scientists from four different medical research laboratories have found that pleural effusions, the excess fluid that collects around the lungs of 70 percent of mesothelioma patients, can be used to diagnose the disease.

“Early in the incidence of mesothelioma, there is just effusion, without pleural thickening, and in some cases mesothelioma cells appear in effusions temporarily, not permanently,” writes lead study author Toshiaki Kawai of the National Defense Medical College. “Therefore, correct diagnosis requires effusion-sampling at the right time.”

The study in the journal Pathology outlines cellular characteristics that can help pathologists diagnose mesothelioma from a sample of lung fluid.

“The process of diagnosing mesothelioma can be long and difficult,” says Alex Strauss, Managing Editor of Surviving Mesothelioma. “If other studies confirm this window of opportunity for diagnosing the disease with effusions, it could both simplify and speed up the process and may even improve outcomes.”

To read more about these findings and their potential implications, see Can Mesothelioma Be Diagnosed with Fluid Alone?, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.

Kawai, T et al, “Pulmonary Pathology: SY22-2 Diagnosis of mesothelioma by cytology using Japanese criteria”, October 2014, Pathology, Epub ahead of print, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/265343864



