Mesothelioma Symptoms.

By Thomas Goldman

Mesothelioma symptoms can appear at any time up to 50 years after the exposure to asbestos. This makes it a difficult disease to diagnose. Screening is sometimes done, and can sometimes be effective to some degree although there are no standard accepted screening methods yet.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer which is relatively rare and is typically found in 1 person per million. This is much less common than for example lung cancer where the incidence in those who are exposed to smoke is 1 in a thousand. Smoking on its own does not cause the mesothelioma, but smoking can make it more likely if there is also exposure to asbestos.

Symptoms of mesothelioma can include coughing, blood clotting problems, anemia, fever, general pain, shortness of breath, pain in the chest, weight loss, swelling and pain of the abdomen, bowel obstruction, difficulty swallowing, blood in the fluid coughed up, jaundice, low blood sugar level, swelling of the neck and/or face. Different symptoms might occur at different stages of this disease, and with different variations on the disease such as peritoneal mesothelioma, or the more common pleural mesothelioma.

Diagnosis of mesothelioma is often very difficult because any or all of these symptoms can be caused by a wide range of other less serious medical problems other than mesothelioma. If one has been exposed to asbestos (or other mesothelioma-causing chemicals, asbestos is not the only one), mesothelioma maybe suspected. The patient is usually examined physically first, then chest X-ray and lung function tests are completed. After that, any fluid building up in the chest cavity can be tested, and a biopsy done, which involves taking a small sample of relevant bodily tissue (such as from chest or abdomen) for examination under a microscope by a pathologist.

This disease can be treated by a variety of approaches. A combination of radical surgery, radiation and chemo-therapies is sometimes used and tends to be more effective than any one of the treatments on its own. What can seem to be a mesothelioma symptom is more likely to indicate a much less serious medical condition. Claims for the disease can often be considerable.

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