Mesothelioma Symptoms

* Mesothelioma Symptoms

    In their early stages, nmesothelioma symptoms are vague and mild. They gradually become more severe as the illness progresses. Asbestos fibers can remain in the body for decades, slowly causing cellular damage that may result in mesothelioma cancer 20 to 50 years after asbestos exposure took place. During the final stages of this long latency period, the undetected cancer may spread to other parts of the body, but the most common symptoms are directly related to local effects of the tumor.

    Because pleural mesothelioma is the most prevalent form of the cancer, most information about mesothelioma symptoms refers to the pleural subtype. Although observations of the other forms of mesothelioma have been limited by the cancer's infrequent occurrence, a unique set of symptoms has been established for each type of the disease.

 - What are the Symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma?

    Most pleural mesothelioma symptoms affect the respiratory system. Although they are rarely part of a patient's initial presentation and are typically discovered by imaging tests, pleural thickening or pleural plaques are also indicative of mesothelioma.

The most commonly reported symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include:

Chest pains

Shortness of breath (dyspnea)

Reduced chest expansion

Barely audible or harsh breathing sounds

Dry cough or wheezing

Pleural effusions

    These benign lesions can be as large as 6 cm in diameter and appear in scattered clusters across the visceral and parietal pleural surface. In a 2011 study of 221 pleural mesothelioma patients, symptoms were reported with the following frequency:

90%

of patients presented pleural effusions

79%

of patients experienced shortness of breath

64%

of patients reported chest pain

36%

of patients developed a chronic cough

30%

of patients experienced weight loss

 What are the Symptoms for Other Types of Mesothelioma?

 - Peritoneal mesothelioma:

Abdominal pain is the first symptom that most peritoneal mesothelioma patients exhibit. This is commonly followed by abdominal enlargement and tenderness. Ascites, fluid buildups between the peritoneum and the abdominal organs, are very common, but they often develop later in the progression of the illness. In a study of 13 peritoneal mesothelioma patients, 77 percent of participants developed ascites.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is also associated with a loss of appetite that often results in weight loss, abdominal distention/pelvic mass and abdominal hernias. In one study, 69 percent of peritoneal mesothelioma patients lost weight. Patients may also note bowel obstruction very late in the progression of peritoneal mesothelioma. Additionally, one Australian study found that 10 percent of all diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma patients experienced short, mild seizures.

69%

of patients experienced weight loss or loss of appetite

77%

of patients developed ascites

Abdominal pain is an early sign of peritoneal mesothelioma

Bowel obstruction generally occurs later