Mesothelioma Symptoms

The most common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma (mesothelioma on the lungs) are difficulty in breathing, chest pain, or both. Occasionally, a patient may not have symptoms at diagnosis. In addition to a general feeling of not being well, other less common symptoms include: weight loss, fever, night sweats, cough.

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma (mesothelioma in the abdomen) may include: swelling, pain due to, accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity, weight loss, a mass in the abdomen, bowel obstruction, fever.

The symptoms of mesothelioma are cruel and painful. As the tumor grows and expands, it often produces fluid that fills the chest or the abdomen, depending upon whether it is pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma. This fluid places pressure on vital organs. In the case of pleural mesothelioma, which represents 80% of cases, the fluid compresses the lung, causing intense pain, shortness of breath and overwhelming fatigue. The mesothelioma sufferer cannot sleep comfortably, loses appetite, and endures excruciating pain as the fluid and the expanding tumor slowly fills up the chest, crushing the lung. Relieving the fluid pressure is only short term symptomatic relief.

Pleural mesothelioma patients in five studies presented by P. Chahinian showed the following symptoms in varying degrees:

Pericardial patients reported different clinical symptoms:

Peritoneal patients present another set of symptoms again:

Disease Development And Progression

The latency of mesothelioma has been one of its greatest problems and may partly explain why a connection with asbestos exposure took so long to be accepted as the primary cause. Mesothelioma latency isn’t known exactly since exposure to asbestos doesn’t always equate directly or immediately to an insult to the tissues. Consequently, estimates of latency vary widely with mesothelioma patients being reported in age ranges from early teens to octogenarians. The accepted figure falls somewhere between 15 and 50 years from the date of exposure to asbestos although it’s anyone’s guess as to when the asbestos first triggered the cellular damage that translated into mesothelioma.

Since symptoms are often misdiagnosed or even absent during early stage mesothelioma, the rate of progression of the disease is also a guess. The most commonly available figures pertain to median survival time from the date of diagnosis but many mesothelioma experts believe the tumor may be in existence for quite some time before diagnosis.

Even survival times vary widely with no clear consensus emerging. On the low side, survival times of 4 to 8 months are reflected in the information to be gleaned from obituaries and tributes paid to the afflicted. On the high side, 12 to 18 months is considered the norm, although this number is demonstrating some upward movement and tends to become differentiated when mesothelioma types, categories and treatments are considered as part of the assessment.

Of the three subtypes, epithelial, mixed type, or sarcomatous, the latter two have by far the worst prognosis for survival. Patient groups of sarcomatous subtype, or those with lymph node involvement, tend to have no long term survivors. Two year survival rates for these groups are 0% and median survival time is only 5.5 months. Epithelial cases without lymph node involvement, and who are younger than 50, have the best chance for long term survival. Median survival numbers for this group are trending up, and vary based on the type of treatment chosen.

Mesothelioma patients of all subtypes rarely survive long enough for medical science to establish conclusively whether or not mesothelioma actively metastasizes or not. As median survival times lengthen, we may find that mesothelioma is no different from other cancers in this respect.

In pleural mesothelioma, the tumor tends to appear only in one lung, with a right/left preference of 60% to 40%. Pleural mesothelioma occurs about four times more frequently than peritoneal, with peritoneal being on the decline and pleural on the upswing. Men are five times more likely than women to get pleural mesothelioma and both sexes are equally represented with peritoneal.

As of this time, there are no medical procedures that are proven to be curative. Most of the leading treatments (covered under the treatment section of this web site) involve experimental procedures, clinical trials of drugs and novel technologies.

Mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms associated with this disease closely resemble more common chest and lung diseases. Symptoms may include:

Persistent Coughing
Coughing Blood
Shortness of Breath
Chest and Abdomen Pain
Fatigue
Weight Loss
Nausea
Headaches

Mesothelioma severely weakens the immune system, making those afflicted with the disease more vulnerable to secondary diseases like pneumonia and the flu. There are numerous tests available to help medical professionals diagnose mesothelioma; however, such diagnosis is still a difficult and long process.

Mesothelioma can be difficult to diagnose. Symptoms can mimic other conditions and people often ignore them or mistake them for other ailments. By the time symptoms appear, the disease is often advanced.

The crucial symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include chest pain and coughing, and shortness of breath. Weakness, weight loss, lower back pains, and/or difficulty in swallowing may also occur infrequently. Sometimes a chest x-ray may reveal a pleural effusion, which is an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space the space between the lungs and the chest wall. However, other tests are needed in addition to an x-ray.

When the tumor begins to spread over the pleura it also reduces the pleura’s flexibility. The lungs become restricted and get smaller causing breathing to become more difficult over time.

Peritoneal mesothelioma involves the abdominal cavity and can infiltrate the liver, spleen or the bowel. Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss, nausea, and pain and swelling in the abdomen due to a buildup of fluid or a mass in the abdomen. Other symptoms can include difficulty with bowel movements, anemia, and swelling of the feet.

A person with any of these symptoms who has been exposed to asbestos should see a doctor right away.