Massachusetts, the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has recently published an article on the various roles played by a pathologist throughout the mesothelioma diagnostic and treatment process. The article defines the importance of the pathologist not only in the diagnostic stage, but also in the treatment stage as well.
According to the authors of the article, “The pathologist provides crucial input to the determination of many prognostic factors including histologic subtype, extent of local disease progression, resection margins, and nodal status. They discuss with the clinical care team at multiple points along the treatment spectrum, preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively. Lastly, they are increasingly called on to guide selection of chemotherapy and measure treatment response.”
Treatment for malignant mesothelioma is completely dependent upon perfect diagnosis and staging of the cancer. For example, Epithelioid Mesothelioma is treated slightly differently than sarcomatoid or biphasic mesothelioma. The stage of the mesothelioma disease upon diagnosis can heavily affect what treatment procedures will be effective for the patient. Therefore, the overall prognosis of a mesothelioma patient is established from information gathered by the pathologist.
Hence, the pathologist plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant mesothelioma. As all we know that there is no cure for mesothelioma, thus it is important to use the appropriate treatments for each individual patient to improve their personal prognosis. That’s why the pathologist becomes so important, helping to fine-tune treatment options for each patient’s particular diagnosis.
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