http://www.archivesofpathology.org/doi/pdf/10.5858/arpa.2012-0260-ED

Timothy Craig Allen (2013) Accurate Diagnosis of Mesothelioma: More Important Than Ever. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine: May 2013, Vol. 137, No. 5, pp. 601-602.

EDITORIALS

Accurate Diagnosis of Mesothelioma: More Important Than Ever

Timothy Craig Allen , MD, JD

From the Department of Pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center, Tyler.

There are few diagnoses more difficult to make with certainty, and carrying more prognostic and legal weight, than the diagnosis of diffuse malignant mesothelioma (DMM). Diffuse malignant mesothelioma's extremely limited therapeutic options, dismal prognosis, and serious legal implications make it a disease for which misdiagnosis carries grave and far-reaching medical, legal, and social consequences. At the same time, DMM's rarity, and the commonness of its mimics, makes it a diagnosis with which few pathologists attain familiarity. Indeed, a pathologist can spend a career having never diagnosed DMM. Moreover, the diagnosis of DMM is often difficult to make, and even pathologists expert in the diagnosis of DMM find some cases extremely challenging.