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What Are the Symptoms of Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the linings of the cavities of the body; this layer of cells that lines body cavities is called the mesothelium. The most common type of mesothelioma affects the pulmonary pleurae, which are the mesothelium that covers the lungs and the one that lines the chest wall. Mesothelioma can also form on the peritoneum, which is the lining of the abdominal cavity, or the mesothelial lining of the scrotum. Like many types of cancer, it often develops for a long time before it begins to show symptoms. Also like other types of cancer, its symptoms can also be associated with many other diseases; how many times have you Googled a symptom and found out that it could either indicate a minor illness or one of several types of cancer? For this reason, symptoms alone are not enough to make a diagnosis of mesothelioma, or of any other type of cancer. Not everyone who has a cough has mesothelioma; neither does everyone who has a cough and who worked in a ship’s boiler room or in construction in the 1970s. Blood tests, X-rays, and biopsies are usually all part of the process of receiving a diagnosis of mesothelioma.
When do Mesothelioma Symptoms Start?
We can hope that mesothelioma cases will become fewer in the future
Most mesothelioma patients receive their diagnosis when they are above the age of 55, but this is not exclusively due to the fact that the risk of developing almost any type of cancer increases with age. The biggest risk factor for mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos dust or asbestos fiber, and the onset of symptoms can occur anywhere from 10 to 50 years after the exposure. Many cases of mesothelioma occur in people who previously worked in occupations where asbestos dust was present, such as mining, construction, in the boiler rooms of ships, or in asbestos removal projects. Another reason that most people get their mesothelioma diagnosis late in life is that asbestos was banned as an insulation material in most buildings in 1989; therefore, most of the people who are currently being treated for mesothelioma were adults of working age in the 1980s and earlier. Another substantial subset of mesothelioma patients is people who were exposed to asbestos dust secondhand as children when their fathers wore their asbestos-contaminated work clothes home from the aforementioned jobs.
Another reason that mesothelioma cases are more common in people born before 1960 is that they are more likely to have been exposed to Simian virus 40 (SV40), as some doses of polio vaccine that were administered in the 1950s and early 1960s were contaminated with this virus. SV40 by itself does not cause mesothelioma, but some evidence suggests that the virus makes asbestos-exposed people more susceptible to developing mesothelioma. It is possible for SV40 to spread from person to person, but it is not very contagious (it spreads more like HIV and less like highly contagious viruses such as cold viruses, influenza, and COVID), so fewer people born after the early 1960s are positive for SV40.
Before asbestos was banned, it was common in insulating materials and even in some consumer items. Therefore, you cannot assume that you have escaped asbestos-related mesothelioma simply because you are too young or because too much time has gone by since the last time you were in the presence of asbestos.
We can hope that mesothelioma cases will become fewer in the future, now that asbestos is banned in most situations where it could cause illness and also because better safety protocols are now in place for people whose jobs require them to be in contact with asbestos. Meanwhile, more effective testing and treatment for mesothelioma are being developed. As with all types of cancer, the earlier in the disease progression the cancer is diagnosed, the better the prognosis.
Chest Pain and Tightness in the Chest
In most cases of mesothelioma, the first place that cancerous cells begin to proliferate is on the parietal pleura, a layer of mesothelial tissue that lines the interior of the chest wall. The second most common site of mesothelioma cancer cell growth is on the pleura around the outside of the lungs. Because of this, people with mesothelioma often experience pain in the chest. Some of them describe the pain as wrapping around their ribs, all the way to their upper back. Pain is more common in cases of mesothelioma where the cancer cells have spread to the muscles of the chest wall or to the ribs.
People with peritoneal mesothelioma, where the cancer cells grow on the mesothelial lining of the abdominal cavity, tend to experience a feeling of tightness in the abdomen as fluid builds up near the site of the cancer cells. They may also experience abdominal pain when cancer reaches the muscle.
Cough and Shortness of Breath
The growth of cancer cells on the mesothelial tissue of the pleurae can cause pleural effusion, which is an excessive buildup of fluid between the pleurae and the chest wall. When too much fluid builds up, the lungs cannot expand normally when you inhale. This leads to shortness of breath and difficulty taking deep breaths. Dyspnea is the medical term for shortness of breath. The shortness of breath associated with mesothelioma is often associated with a persistent cough, but coughing up a lot of mucus is not usually a symptom of mesothelioma, like it is with a cold.
Persistent cough and shortness of breath can be symptoms of many different conditions, and these symptoms are especially common in people who have smoked cigarettes for many years. Even pleural effusion can have many different causes, including infectious diseases, lung cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
Weight Gain or Weight Loss
Significant changes in body weight that are not connected to significant changes in diet can also be a sign of mesothelioma, but they are typically not the first sign to appear. As cancer spreads to the muscles of the chest wall, you might lose muscle mass, which results in weight loss. Likewise, the buildup of fluid might cause you to gain weight.
General Feeling of Ill Health
With mesothelioma, as with many other types of cancer, the symptoms can be non-specific, meaning that there are many different diseases that they could indicate. In addition to cough, shortness of breath, and unexplained weight loss or weight gain, you might just have a general feeling that you are unwell. You might feel tired for no reason, or you might suffer from night sweats. Some people get diagnosed with mesothelioma because they go to the doctor after generally feeling ill for several weeks or several months, and they expect that they will receive a diagnosis of influenza or an autoimmune disorder. There is no single symptom that is a dead giveaway that someone has mesothelioma; there is not even a set of symptoms that, in the absence of diagnostic tests, can indicate mesothelioma and rule out other causes of the symptoms.
Common Tests for Mesothelioma Symptoms
After you describe your symptoms and medical history to a doctor, the doctor will probably conduct diagnostic imaging tests, such as chest X-rays, CT scans, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of your chest or abdomen. These images can show whether there is an abnormal mass near your chest wall or lungs or in your abdominal cavity. These images can show the size and location of the abnormal growth, but they cannot show whether it is cancerous, and they certainly cannot show what type of cancer cells make up the tumor.
Therefore, a diagnosis of mesothelioma can only be made by testing individual cells. If there is a lot of fluid in your chest, the doctor may extract a small amount of fluid with a syringe; this is called thoracentesis. Pathologists will then examine the fluid under a microscope to see whether mesothelioma cells are present. Instead of or in addition to thoracentesis, the doctor may do a biopsy. This involves surgically removing a small amount of the apparently abnormal tissue and then examining it under a microscope to see whether the cells are cancerous and, if they are, what kind of cancer they are. Depending on the location of the tumor, it might be possible to perform the surgery laparoscopically or thoracoscopically; in other words, it can be accomplished through a minimally invasive procedure in which a narrow tube is inserted into the chest or abdomen through a small incision. Minimally invasive biopsies still require anesthesia, but they are often performed on an outpatient basis. In some cases, the location of the tumor might only be accessible through open surgery.
If these tests show cancer cells, the doctor might perform blood tests to confirm the type of cancer, based on the types of tumor markers in your blood. You might also get blood work done to test your white blood cell count and red blood cell count. Throughout your cancer treatment, you will need to have additional bloodwork to see how your body is responding to the treatment.