Symptoms of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma cases have increased greatly in the U.S. over the past 20 years. The disease mostly occurs in male adults who have been around or worked closely with asbestos.

Mesothelioma is a form of lung cancer caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers. The cancer cells can break up and spread throughout other parts of the body, causing further damage to organs and tissues.

There are early symptoms of mesothelioma but sometimes signs and symptoms may not show up for many years after exposure to asbestos. Early stages and symptoms of mesothelioma are similar to pneumonia.

Some of the symptoms include:

-- difficulty swallowing
-- weight loss
-- fever
-- chest pain
-- persistent cough
-- dyspnea
-- swelling of the abdomen, chest, neck, or face.

Dyspnea is shortness of breathe and is caused when the volume of fluid increases. When this happens, pain, mild to stabbing, may occur. A patient may even experience a dry cough at this time.

Some patients may not show any symptoms at all.

A chest x-ray could show build-up of fluid. When this happens the doctor may recommend using a chest tube to drain the fluid or something that is called chemical pleurodesis.

The right lung is the one that is usually affected most of the time but there are times when both lungs could be affected. When it is just the one lung that is affected the tumor tends to grow across the lung until the entire organ is encased.

Some of the symptoms in the later stage of the disease include:

-- hoarseness
-- swallowing problems
-- spitting up sputum and/or blood
-- sudden and unexplained weight loss

Depending on the type of the mesothelioma and the stage that the disease is in, there are many treatment options available including, but not liminited to:

-- radiotherapy
-- chemotherapy
-- phototherapy
-- peritoneal surgery
-- pleurodesis
-- pleurectomy

They are all different procedures used to do different things throughout the stages of the cancer. There is one thing to remember though; there is no known cure for this disease. These different procedures are used to prolong the patient’s life and to help them live as comfortably as possible.

Search for more Articles: