Mesothelioma Symptoms
Mesothelioma usually occurs many years after asbestos exposure. Signs and symptoms may not be evident until 15–50 years after exposure. Mesothelioma can be difficult to detect initially as symptoms can be similar to other less serious illnesses. Many patients are unaware of the severity of their condition and often the cancer is not detected until a late stage of development. While it may metastasize and spread to other organs, mesothelioma usually does not spread to bone, the brain, or adrenal glands.
Shortness of breath, chest wall pain, fatigue, and weight loss can be common symptoms in the most common form of the disease, pleural mesothelioma. Additional symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include pleural effusion, wheezing, dry cough, and coughing blood. When a patient has pleural mesothelioma, the tissue thickening and fluid buildup in the pleural causes pressure on the lungs and reduced respiratory function.
The second most common form of the disease is peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects lining of the abdominal cavity. Symptoms include weight loss, abdominal swelling, and ascites, which is a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity, bowel obstruction, anemia, and fever.
When a person has pericardial mesothelioma, there is a thickening of the pericardial membrane that surrounds the heart and fluid buildup. This is a less common form of the cancer. Symptoms include chest pain, heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat, difficulty breathing, night sweats of fever, and generalized fatigue. The rarest form of the disease is testicular mesothelioma, which causes an appearance of testicular lumps, which may be painful.
Persons with a history of asbestos possible exposure should inform their doctors for the best chance at early detection. Regular chest X–rays or pulmonary function tests are tools used to diagnose mesothelioma.