But if our LoJack paper is correct, why wouldn’t we expect to see a similar crime-reducing effect from concealed handguns? Concealed weapons can also be a type of unobservable precaution that can deter potential criminals from committing crimes. Why doesn’t my concealed-handgun empiricism find similar reductions in crime when state laws make it easier to carry concealed handguns?

A powerful answer to this question comes from none other than the New York Knicks basketball coach Mike D’Antoni. As reported in last week’s New York Times:

Mike D’Antoni was thrilled to see Nate Robinson break out of his shooting slump Wednesday, but not so pleased with his behavior. Robinson — who was on the bench at the time — celebrated a second-quarter David Lee dunk by skipping down the baseline and bumping the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire, who had fouled Lee on the play. Robinson was assessed a technical foul, his sixth of the season. “To be honest with you, that’s why you don’t have concealed weapons, because I’d have shot him at that point,” D’Antoni said wryly. “I do like his feistiness, but he just needs to channel it in the right way. And he knows that.”

D’Antoni knows that the problem with a concealed weapon is that it can easily change from a defensive “unobservable precaution” to an offensive weapon to commit crimes. People are not as likely to get angry and rip a LoJack out of their car to beat someone with it

This is a strawman argument.

The question posed is whether concealed carry deters crimes against persons potentially carrying a weapon the way a LoJack device deters vehicular theft.

This is a completely different issue than whether a person possessing a concealed carry permit is likely to use the concealed firearm to commit a crime.

Even if the latter issue were relevant to answering the former, there is no evidence that the possessors of concealed carry permits, who usually undergo background checks before issue, commit a statistically significant number of crimes with their concealed weapons. This is presumably why the tongue in cheek comment by a basketball coach was used as evidence.

So the question stands as to whether concealed carry deters crimes against persons potentially carrying a weapon the way a LoJack device deters vehicular theft.
 

Bart is right, it's well known that CCW permit holders commit crimes with their weapons at a vanishingly low rate, so the suggestion that they're committing enough crimes to negate deterent effect is absurd, and unworthy of a serious analysis.

If there is indeed a problem with concealed carry, it isn't that.
 

So, why weren't comments "on" earlier? Are all future threads going to have comments enabled?
 

"... it's well known that CCW permit holders commit crimes with their weapons at a vanishingly low rate..."

If it's so "well known", where's the data?

Cheers,
 

So the question stands as to whether concealed carry deters crimes against persons potentially carrying a weapon the way a LoJack device deters vehicular theft.

No, that question doesn't stand at all. Ian has answered that: RTC laws do not deter crime in that manner. The question is now: why not?
 

How's this?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=8106

Yes, Arne, it is indeed widely understood that CCW permit holders hardly ever commit crimes, and virtually never with a concealed weapon. Bet Ian knows that, too.

It's an interesting question why shall issue policies don't increase deterrence more. In part, I think it's because the later states to adopt concealed carry reform put so many restrictions on where you could carry, that concealed carry didn't increase much.
 

Bart is right, it's well known that CCW permit holders commit crimes with their weapons at a vanishingly low rate, so the suggestion that they're committing enough crimes to negate deterent effect is absurd, and unworthy of a serious analysis.

I agree with this as far as it goes, but it raises the question as to whether it would still be true if we liberalized concealed carry laws (and gun laws more generally) in the directions that gun rights groups would like us to.

More generally, I have no idea whether more guns lead to less crime or not. I suspect that the crime rate is an incredibly complex subject that is dependent on all sorts of variables, and it is impossible to isolate whether any particular variable (including gun regulations) has an effect and if so, what effect. I wish both sides of this debate would have a bit more statistical humility.
 

I agree with Dilan that determining the impact of a single factor like concealed carry on the overall crime rate is rather difficult to say the least.

There is anecdotal evidence from criminals that they avoid property and persons they believe to be armed and hunt for easier pickings. However, given how very few folks actually carry a concealed weapon, criminals could easily assume their odds of running into one are slim even with a concealed carry law.

Personally, I like my chances better in a confrontation with someone with designs on my life or property if I am armed.
 

I appreciate the comments.

"person possessing a concealed carry permit is likely to use the concealed firearm to commit a crime"

Aside from if deterence is 'like' lojack, if it is likely to lead to crime in some fashion, it seems relevant overall.

As to Dilan's point, I wonder if he has an opinion as to its implication as far as the Second Amendment goes. The humility point, see Mark Tushnet's book, is generally a good one.
 

brett:

[brett]: "... it's well known that CCW permit holders commit crimes with their weapons at a vanishingly low rate..."

[Arne]: If it's so "well known", where's the data?

[brett]: How's this?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=8106

Can I repeat my request? Where's the data? Thanks.

Cheers,
 

Personally, I like my chances better in a confrontation with someone with designs on my life or property if I am armed.

# posted by Bart DePalma : 8:00 PM


Colorado must be a pretty crappy place to live if that is something you are actually concerned about.
 

BB:

Actually, I live in Colorado's version of Mayberry. Nearly everyone is armed and violent crimes are nearly unheard of here. Maybe there is a correlation or maybe the folks here are simply good people.
 

Actually, I live in Colorado's version of Mayberry.

I doubt the people of Mayberry spent any time thinking about "a confrontation with someone with designs on my life or property." I certainly don't, and I don't live anywhere near Mayberry.
 

maybe the folks here are simply good people

So they are heavily armed to defend themselves from Al Qaeda?
 

Ayres seems to leave out, or skip over, some pretty obvious reasoning - at least in this blog post.

The post asks, "But if our LoJack paper is correct, why wouldn’t we expect to see a similar crime-reducing effect from concealed handguns?"

Well, first of all, we don't expect the LoJack phenomenon to generalize to other crimes. Presumably, it doesn't, and no one expects it to, have an effect on crime totally unrelated to auto-theft (of the kind that involves triggering the LoJack). Obviously, Ayres recognizes this trivial point, since he excludes crime data on thefts of car stereos or hubcaps.

Likewise, I assume no one is going to argue that if some members of a population carry concealed weapons it will reduce embezzlement.

So the obvious question is: why should anyone think more concealed firearms will lead to a general reduction in crime, or even violent crime? It might lead to a reduction in crime that involves a stranger accosting another stranger. I would imagine garden variety, anonymous muggings probably fit the bill.

Not knowing the literature, I would assume that the folks having the debate are looking at crimes that could plausibly be affected by potential victims having concealed firearms.

I notice in the papers linked to above the authors exclude a lot of crime, white collar for example, that should not be effected by concealed weapons. But they leave in a lot of crime stats related to types of crimes that are also very unlikely to be affected by the deterrent effect of allowing folks to carry concealed weapons.

Murder, overall, won't be affected, or least one wouldn't expect it to be, because people who are murdered are generally killed by someone they know. One imagines that often a killer would be aware of whether his (most killers are men) victim owns a gun or not. Clearly, no one thinks that fewer husbands will kill their wives if people are allowed to carry concealed handguns, for example. Likewise, does anyone in her right mind think that laws allowing concealed weapons will reduce killings between gangs?! Or that it will reduce date rape?

All this to say that Ayres, even following the LoJack study, has no responsibility to answer the question, "Why doesn’t [his] concealed-handgun empiricism find similar reductions in crime when state laws make it easier to carry concealed handguns?"

Anyone making the claim that it does (beyond just fancy statistical analysis) has the burden of giving a plausible explanation of why we should expect it to in the first place.

Boy! I hope the folks pushing the claim that legalizing concealed weapons can reduce crime have been looking at the right crimes, and not shooting themselves in the foot by including data from crimes that could not plausibly be affected in their studies.
 

The use of the LoJack system is an automatic recourse when a car that has one is discovered stolen. The thieves have to find it and disable it before it alerts the authorities to its position. Hence an automatic reaction (authority alert) to an action (thievery).

Use of a concealed hand gun, though is not an automatic recourse in the event of a mugging or other violent crime. The person carrying the gun A) has to have an opportunity to pull the gun, B) be fully committed to using it, and C) use it properly.

The "bad guy" is in much more control of the reaction (the victim being able to properly use the hand gun) to the action of the crime.

Because of this the effect of Lojack on the rate of stolen vehicles is not a valid model for the effects of RTC on the rate of crime.
 

Peter:

Carry of a firearm is not likely to have much effect on your garden variety murder of passion, although it would be damn handy to stop a the occasional mass murder like the VA Tech slaughter. Concealed carry is far more useful for repelling robberies, rapes and car jackings.

bb, snottily wondered where I starting thinking about using a firearm for self defense. Unfortunately, I did not always live in Mayberry in the mountains. When I was a kid, my family lived in a crime ridden neighborhood in Philly for a spell. My father illegally exercised his Second Amendment right to carry a concealed firearm in his car and had to pull the .45 out to discourage some punks from carjacking the family car when he stopped at a light in the city.

A year later, a local gang was burglarizing apartments in our building and got around to ours. My old man walked out of the bedroom stark naked, pointed his .45 at the gangbangers in our apartment and asked them if they thought they should leave. They never came back.

In Florida before we were married, my wife worked at a hospital and had a stalker begin to follow her home from work early in the morning. The police could not baby sit her, so my wife started carrying a pistol. Thankfully, the stalker stopped after a couple weeks and my wife did not have to use the firearm.

I doubt my father or my wife's experiences are in any way unique.

Although I doubt my wife and I will ever need it out here, my father's .45 is loaded and ready to go in our bedroom in case someone makes the mistake of breaking and entering into our home. Its no big deal, just another form of insurance from life's unexpected risks.
 

Halteclere said...

Use of a concealed hand gun, though is not an automatic recourse in the event of a mugging or other violent crime. The person carrying the gun A) has to have an opportunity to pull the gun, B) be fully committed to using it, and C) use it properly.

If the person carrying the firearm is fully committed to using it, they are in control and not the bad guy.

Real life is not a movie western where folks are fearlessly drawing pistols on one another. It is exceedingly rare for someone to be injured or killed when they pull a pistol in self defense. Your average bad guy is not ready to exchange fire and will usually take off when a firearm is pointed at them. This happens hundreds of thousands of times every year.
 

I got to say that BP's latest impression of Clint Eastwood was amusing. I take his scenarios as realistic (an old neighbor of mine flashed a gun -- though not a handgun per Heller -- in self defense per an intruder; another person I know flashed a gun while working as a cabbie ... I live in an large urban area), so this isn't a snark particularly.

"get off my lawn!"
 

Although I doubt my wife and I will ever need it out here, my father's .45 is loaded and ready to go in our bedroom in case someone makes the mistake of breaking and entering into our home. Its no big deal, just another form of insurance from life's unexpected risks.

# posted by Bart DePalma : 11:24 PM

The odds are much better that she'll use it on you than she will use it in self-defense (either by accident or "accident"). I hope she is well trained.
 

Mr. DePalma, I've read through all your comments while I support the right to own a gun (though not unrestricted) and don't doubt there are studies that could back you up I must say for, I believe, the betterment of your argument:

The plural of anecdote is not evidence.
 

"The odds are much better that she'll use it on you than she will use it in self-defense (either by accident or "accident")."

Um, no, not really, that's the usual statistical manipulation. It starts by defining "use it in self defense" to exclude brandishing or less than fatal outcomes, thus eliminating most instances of self defense. Then you include in "she'll use it on you" cases which ARE self defense, such as shooting abusive spouses violating restraining orders.

And, ta da! She'll use it on you more often than self defense occurs.

Here's my serious suggestion: We can enhance the deterrent effect of concealed carry by actually reporting with some prominence instances where criminals encounter armed victims, instead of burying the accounts.
 

How might Justice Scalia, author of the Heller decision (5-4), rule on concealed carry? Take a look at Prof. Lund's comments on Concealed Carry dicta in Scalia's opinion in Article V.D. (beginning page 23) of his article "The Second Amendment, Heller, and Originalist Jurisprudence" available via SSRN at:

http://ssrn.com/abstracts=1324757

What does "history" tell us about "baring" arms, as opposed to concealing them? (No Mae West jokes, please!)
 

Here's link to Wikipedia for "Anecdotal Evidence":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

I hear say it cannot be relied upon.
 

Shag:

If the term "bear arms" is granted its normal meaning, then the 2d Amendment must protect a person's right to carry arms in public. Because this right will inevitably come into conflict with the right to control access onto one's property, a court could reasonably apply the many of the same standards for public speech to the public carry of arms. Laws restricting open or concealed carry would be reasonable so long as some version of carry is permitted.
 

BDP: "If the person carrying the firearm is fully committed to using it, they are in control and not the bad guy."

If the person is fully committed, and they have time to access to the firearm then they are in control. But, unlike a car that is protected by Lojack every second of the day, a person accosted by a criminal is only protected by the firearm if that firearm is accessible. A criminal has the element of surprise going for him, therefore he is in much more control of the situation. If you are in the shower when a burglar breaks into your house, or if you don't notice the car-jacker until he is right at your window, you don't have any opportunity to retrieve your firearm from your drawer, glove box or under the seat. And if you do retrieve your firearm the criminal has time to make a break for it.

A criminal can negate the benefit of a firearm and have a measure of control over the outcome. The same criminal is much less in control of the outcome when they steal a car with Lojack.

BDP: "Your average bad guy is not ready to exchange fire and will usually take off when a firearm is pointed at them."

So you are confirming my point then that the reduction of stolen vehicles due to a proliferation of cars equipped with Lojack does not translate into a reduction of crime due to a proliferation of concealed firearms.

Stealing a car with Lojack highly likely will result in an arrest. Accosting someone with a firearm will likely result in the criminal fleeing the scene, to go accost someone else who may not be carrying. So concealed firearms are much more similar to The Club in reducing crime. I.e. concealed firearms and The Club reduce crime of a certain thing or certain person but do not reduce crime in the community.
 

If you are going to comment on your comment policy, maybe, you should allow people to comment on it. Just that once?

Anyway, on the issue of guns, interesting gun show oral argument from the 9th Circuit aired on C-SPAN last weekend. Check their website.

Heller also noted:

"the majority of the 19th-century courts to consider the question held that prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues"

[here's one exception]

Still, a federal law against concealed carry would be trickier probably. Or, an absolute bar, perhaps. But, Scalia probably would support most anti-carry regulations. I'd think.
 

Halteclere notes various limitations on benefits to guns. It's useful to debate the specifics like that.

But, the Lojack example (a passive device for one thing) seems to confuse the issue. Mixing apples and oranges doesn't help.

As to Anecdotal Evidence, people bring that up on any issue (just bring up reproductive rights). But, yes, there are studies on the issue. Like trying to justify the death penalty via deterrence, it can be hard going to use studies to ban concealed carry.

Justice Breyer in Heller suggested the evidence was mixed. Given we have a constitutional right at bar, the weight of evidence should be on the gov't, at least somewhat even when dealing with guns in public places.

OTOH, it's hard to prove that guns are so useful either. As the post suggests, there can be various factors involved in crime reduction. Singling out guns is problematic. Overall, though this sort of thing is useful, other factors -- including value choices -- will be involved when policy is made.
 

Um, no, not really

Actually, yes, really. Homicide rates are significantly higher in states with high gun ownership.

Although it is wishful thinking on my part that Baghdad's wife will shoot him. More likely he will shoot her.
 

Joe:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15518184&postID=5350902641792267247
 

Halteclere:

The use of the LoJack system is an automatic recourse when a car that has one is discovered stolen. The thieves have to find it and disable it before it alerts the authorities to its position. Hence an automatic reaction (authority alert) to an action (thievery).

Use of a concealed hand gun, though is not an automatic recourse in the event of a mugging or other violent crime. The person carrying the gun A) has to have an opportunity to pull the gun, B) be fully committed to using it, and C) use it properly.

I find this unpersuasive. If only some CCW people "have an opportunity to pull the gun, [are] fully committed to using it, and [] use it properly", the deterrent is there, just as it would be if everyone met these conditions, but there were simply fewer people CCW. No potential criminal goes and performs a psychological inventory and skills test on the potential victim....

Cheers,
 

I don't have systematic evidence for any of this, but a few consequences of CCW laws seem likely.
1. Property crimes that occur when the victim is not present will not be affected. The includes car theft and larceny. Burglars prefer to do their work when people are not home, so it's possible burglars will take even more care about this. But as more homes have that loaded .45 in the bedstand drawer, more guns will be stolen and wind up in the hands of bad guys.

2. With crimes against the person, if criminals think their victim might be armed, they have a few choices.
a. Don't do the crime.
b. Take pre-emptive action to make sure the victim can't use his gun. Work in teams, draw your gun first, as professional bank robbers (not note passers) do. Or smash the victim over the head, as some street muggers do.

c. Choose victims who are less likely to have a gun or be able to get to it -- the proverbial little old lady. Even if she has a gun, it's in her purse, and you can grab that first.
 

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severe ascites
A
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Chemotherapy is the only treatment for
mesothelioma that has been proven to improve survival in randomised and controlled trials. The landmark study published in 2003 by Vogelzang and colleagues compared cisplatin chemotherapy alone with a combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed (brand name Alimta) chemotherapy) in patients who had not received chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma previously and were not candidates for more aggressive "curative" surgery. This trial was the first to report a survival advantage from chemotherapy in malignant pleural
mesothelioma showing a statistically significant improvement in median survival from 10 months in the patients treated with cisplatin alone to 13.3 months in the combination pemetrexed group in patients who received supplementation with folate and vitamin B12. Vitamin supplementation was given to most patients in the trial and pemetrexed related side effects were significantly less in patients receiving pemetrexed when they also received daily oral folate 500mcg and intramuscular vitamin B12 1000mcg every 9 weeks compared with patients receiving pemetrexed without vitamin supplementation. The objective response rate increased from 20% in the cisplatin group to 46% in the combination pemetrexed group. Some side effects such as nausea and vomiting, stomatitis, and diarrhoea were more common in the combination pemetrexed group but only affected a minority of patients and overall the combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin was well tolerated when patients received vitamin supplementation; both quality of life and lung function tests improved in the combination pemetrexed group. In February 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved pemetrexed for treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, there are still unanswered questions about the optimal use of chemotherapy, including when to start treatment, and the optimal number of cycles to give.
Cisplatin in combination with raltitrexed has shown an improvement in survival similar to that reported for pemetrexed in combination with cisplatin, but raltitrexed is no longer commercially available for this indication. For patients unable to tolerate pemetrexed, cisplatin in combination with gemcitabine or vinorelbine is an alternative, although a survival benefit has not been shown for these drugs. For patients in whom cisplatin cannot be used, carboplatin can be substituted but non-randomised data have shown lower response rates and high rates of haematological toxicity for carboplatin-based combinations, albeit with similar survival figures to patients receiving cisplatin.
In January 2009, the United States FDA approved using conventional therapies such as surgery in combination with radiation and or chemotherapy on stage I or II Mesothelioma after research conducted by a nationwide study by Duke University concluded an almost 50 point increase in remission rates.
Treatment regimens involving immunotherapy have yielded variable results. For example, intrapleural inoculation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in an attempt to boost the immune response, was found to be of no benefit to the patient (while it may benefit patients with bladder cancer.
mesothelioma cells proved susceptible to in vitro lysis by LAK cells following activation by interleukin-2 (IL-2), but patients undergoing this particular therapy experienced major side effects. Indeed, this trial was suspended in view of the unacceptably high levels of IL-2 toxicity and the severity of side effects such as fever and cachexia. Nonetheless, other trials involving interferon alpha have proved more encouraging with 20% of patients experiencing a greater than 50% reduction in tumor mass combined with minimal side effects.
A procedure known as heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy was developed by at the Washington Cancer Institute. The surgeon removes as much of the tumor as possible followed by the direct administration of a chemotherapy agent, heated to between 40 and 48°C, in the abdomen. The fluid is perfused for 60 to 120 minutes and then drained.
This technique permits the administration of high concentrations of selected drugs into the abdominal and pelvic surfaces. Heating the chemotherapy treatment increases the penetration of the drugs into tissues. Also, heating itself damages the malignant cells more than the normal cells.

What is the mesothelium?
The mesothelium is a membrane that covers and protects most of the internal organs of the body. It is composed of two layers of cells: One layer immediately surrounds the organ; the other forms a sac around it. The mesothelium produces a lubricating fluid that is released between these layers, allowing moving organs (such as the beating heart and the expanding and contracting lungs to glide easily against adjacent structures.
The mesothelium has different names, depending on its location in the body. The peritoneum is the mesothelial tissue that covers most of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The pleura is the membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the wall of the chest cavity. The pericardium covers and protects the heart. The
mesothelioma tissue surrounding the male internal reproductive organs is called the tunica vaginalis testis. The tunica serosa uteri covers the internal reproductive organs in women.
What is mesothelioma?
mesothelioma (cancer of the mesothelium) is a disease in which cells of the mesothelium become abnormal and divide without control or order. They can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs.
cancer cells can also metastasize (spread) from their original site to other parts of the body. Most cases of mesothelioma begin in the pleura or peritoneum.
How common is mesothelioma?
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. About 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age.
What are the risk factors for mesothelioma?
Working with asbestos is the major risk factor for mesothelioma. A history of . exposure at work is reported in about 70 percent to 80 percent of all cases. However, mesothelioma has been reported in some individuals without any known exposure to
Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals that occur naturally as masses of strong, flexible fibers that can be separated into thin threads and woven. . has been widely used in many industrial products, including cement, brake linings, roof shingles, flooring products, textiles, and insulation. If tiny asbestos particles float in the air, especially during the manufacturing process, they may be inhaled or swallowed, and can cause serious health problems. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers, such as those of the larynx and kidney.
Smoking does not appear to increase the risk of mesothelioma. However, the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases a person's risk of developing cancer of the air passageways in the lung.
Who is at increased risk for developing mesothelioma?
asbestos has been mined and used commercially since the late 1800s. Its use greatly increased during World War II. Since the early 1940s, millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos dust. Initially, the risks associated with asbestos exposure were not known. However, an increased risk of developing mesothelioma was later found among shipyard workers, people who work in asbestos. Today, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets limits for acceptable levels of asbestos exposure in the workplace. People who work with asbestos wear personal protective equipment to lower their risk of exposure.
The risk o f asbestosrelated disease increases with heavier exposure to asbestos and longer exposure time. However, some individuals with only brief exposures have developed mesothelioma On the other hand, not all workers who are heavily exposed develop asbestos-related diseases.
There is some evidence that family members and others living with asbestos workers have an increased risk of developing mesothelioma, and possibly other asbestos-related diseases. This risk may be the result of exposure to
asbestos dust brought home on the clothing and hair of
asbestos workers. To reduce the chance of exposing family members to
asbestos fibers, asbestos workers are usually required to shower and change their clothing before leaving the workplace.
What are the symptoms of mesothelioma?
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 30 to 50 years after exposure to
asbestos Shortness of breath and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleura are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and abdominal pain and swelling due to a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.
These symptoms may be caused by
mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions. It is important to see a doctor about any of these symptoms. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis
How is
mesotheliomadiagnosed?
Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical history, including any history of asbestos exposure. A complete physical examination may be performed, including x-rays of the chest or abdomen and lung function tests. A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI may also be useful. A CT scan is a series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body created by a computer linked to an x-ray machine. In an MRI, a powerful magnet linked to a computer is used to make detailed pictures of areas inside the body. These pictures are viewed on a monitor and can also be printed.
A biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis of mesothelioma. In a biopsy, a surgeon or a medical oncologist (a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating cancer) removes a sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist. A biopsy may be done in different ways, depending on where the abnormal area is located. If the
cancer is in the chest, the doctor may perform a thoracoscopy. In this procedure, the doctor makes a small cut through the chest wall and puts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. Thoracoscopy allows the doctor to look inside the chest and obtain tissue samples. If the
cancer is in the abdomen, the doctor may perform a peritoneoscopy. To obtain tissue for examination, the doctor makes a small opening in the abdomen and inserts a special instrument called a peritoneoscope into the abdominal cavity. If these procedures do not yield enough tissue, more extensive diagnostic surgery may be necessary.
If the diagnosis is mesothelioma, the doctor will want to learn the stage (or extent) of the disease. Staging involves more tests in a careful attempt to find out whether the cancer has spread and, if so, to which parts of the body. Knowing the stage of the disease helps the doctor plan treatment.
Mesothelioma is described as localized if the cancer is found only on the membrane surface where it originated. It is classified as advanced if it has spread beyond the original membrane surface to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, chest wall, or abdominal organs.
How is
.treated?
Treatment for mesothelioma depends on the location of the
cancerthe stage of the disease, and the patient's age and general health. Standard treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Sometimes, these treatments are combined.
Surgery is a common treatment for
mesotheliomaThe doctor may remove part of the lining of the chest or abdomen and some of the tissue around it. For cancer of the pleura (pleural
mesotheliomaa lung may be removed in an operation called a pneumonectomy. Sometimes part of the diaphragm, the muscle below the lungs that helps with breathing, is also removed.
Stereo Tactic Radiation Therapy also called radiotherapy, involves the use of high-energy rays to kill
cancercells and shrink tumors Radiation therapy affects the
cancercells only in the treated area. The radiation may come from a machine (external radiation) or from putting materials that produce radiation through thin plastic tubes into the area where the
cancercells are found (internal radiation therapy).
Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Most drugs used to treat
mesotheliomaare given by injection into a vein (intravenous, or IV). Doctors are also studying the effectiveness of putting chemotherapy directly into the chest or abdomen (intracavitary chemotherapy).
To relieve symptoms and control pain, the doctor may use a needle or a thin tube to drain fluid that has built up in the chest or abdomen. The procedure for removing fluid from the chest is called thoracentesis. Removal of fluid from the abdomen is called paracentesis. Drugs may be given through a tube in the chest to prevent more fluid from accumulating. Radiation Therapy and surgery may also be helpful in relieving symptoms.
 

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We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
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