Mesothelioma Diagnosis

Diagnosing mesothelioma can be difficult because the disease is rare and many doctors may not be familiar with it. Additionally, early symptoms of mesothelioma can appear non-specific to both a patient and his or her doctor, and may lead to a delay in diagnosis. The symptoms can include pain in the lower back or at the side of the chest and shortness of breath. Less often, an individual can experience trouble swallowing, cough, fever, sweating, tiredness, and weight loss. See more on symptoms >>

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma (affecting the lining of the abdominal cavity) include belly pain, weight loss, nausea and vomiting. Minor ailments can often cause these same symptoms. Sometimes resembling viral pneumonia, pleural mesothelioma (affecting the lining of the lungs) patients may suffer shortness of breath, chest pain and persistent cough. Some patients show no symptoms at all. Pleural effusion, or an accumulation of fluid between the lining of the lung and the chest cavity, represents one of the most common symptoms of mesothelioma. As the volume of fluid increases, shortness of breath, known as "dyspnea", and sometimes pain may occur. If you have worked with asbestos and you have any of these symptoms, you should see your doctor right away.

If reasons exist to suspect you might have Mesothelioma (particularly exposure to asbestos), a doctor will take your medical history and do a complete physical exam. Then the doctor can use one or more of the methods described below to determine if the disease is present.

A doctor diagnoses mesothelioma through a careful assessment of clinical and radiological findings proceeded by a confirming tissue biopsy. The doctor should review the patient's medical history, including history of asbestos exposure, followed by a complete physical examination, x-rays of the chest or abdomen, and lung function tests. The doctor may also order a CT scan or MRI at this time. If any of these preliminary tests indicate the presence of mesothelioma, a biopsy is performed to confirm this diagnosis.

A doctor may use a needle biopsy of the mass, or the removal and examination of the fluid surrounding the lung for diagnosis. Because these samples are sometimes inadequate as far as determining cell type (epithelial, sarcomatous, or mixed) or because of the unreliability of fluid diagnosis, a doctor may recommend open pleural biopsy. In a pleural biopsy procedure, a surgeon makes a small incision through the chest wall and inserts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. The surgeon then removes a sample of tissue that a pathologist will review under a microscope. In a peritoneal biopsy, the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen and inserts a peritoneoscope into the abdominal cavity. The following represents a list of diagnostic procedures that a doctor may use to determine whether mesothelioma exists.