Mesothelioma Symptoms
Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms: Cause & Treatment
An overview of Symptom Causes & Symptom Specific Treatments
Pleural mesothelioma symptoms typically occur in the chest and are often exhibited as respiratory distress symptoms and pain. Diagnosing pleural mesothelioma, the most common form of malignant mesothelioma, can take years because the symptoms exhibited by patients are found in many other types of lung cancers, illnesses, and some diseases. The symptoms of pleural mesothelioma are often confused with symptoms of adenocarcinoma, a common lung disease. Treating the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma is often the only treatment available for the condition because the prognosis of pleural mesothelioma is often less than one year.
What Causes Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms?
Pleural mesothelioma is a malignant cancer that begins to develop in the mesothelium found in the chest. A mesothelium is a protective layer of cells that surrounds our internal organs and folds back to line external walls of the chest and abdominal cavities, creating one continuous membrane. In the chest cavity, the mesothelium is known as the “pleural membrane” or simply “pleura”.
The space between the membrane along the lungs and the membrane lining the chest wall is known as the pleural cavity. The pleura is comprised of cells that secret serous fluid, an excretion that provides lubrication from muscle friction. This lubricating fluid is important in diagnosing the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma because this type of cancer causes the buld-up of fluids (effusion) in the pleural cavity, which leads to respiratory symptoms.
Pleural mesothelioma is most often caused by asbestos exposure. Most people who are diagnosed with types of mesothelioma have been exposed to asbestos in mines, construction sites, demolition sites, or machinery manufacturers of military grade equipment. Spouses of patients exposed to asbestos may also be subject to develop symptoms of this disease. The most important item for a patient presenting these symptoms to discuss with a doctor is their history with asbestos exposure. Asbestos inhalation is the leading cause of pleural mesothelioma, a cancer that may begin to cause detectable symptoms more than 50 years from the time of last exposure.
What are the Symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma?
Most pleural mesothelioma symptoms are of a respiratory nature; they relate to breathing and lung function. Respiratory symptoms are common among many, many conditions. Some symptoms can lead doctors down the path of another, more common condition, putting pleural mesothelioma out of mind. Again, it is very important to discover any related history to asbestos as this may be the key to successfully diagnosing the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.
A patient suffering from pleural mesothelioma may exhibit some, none (asymptomatic), or all of the following symptoms:
- Pleurisy (pain when breathing or difficulty breathing)
- Chest Pain
- Dry, sometimes painful, coughing
- Breathlessness or shortness of breath (dyspnea)
- Difficulty swallowing
- Fatigue, lethargy and weakness
- Back Pain
- Unexplained\unplanned weight loss
- Fever\Sweating
- Hoarse voice
- Swelling in the face, arms, neck (upper extremities)
The symptoms of pleural mesothelioma are not entirely related to the respiratory system, however. Other symptoms include superficial lumps on the chest (due to tumors just beneath the chest wall) as well as nerve pain and interruptions in neurological abilities due to tumors that are applying pressure to the spinal cord in the back of the pleural cavity.
Understanding the Symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma | |
There are many possible causes for some malignant pleural mesothelioma symptoms. The table below is intended to serve as a basic guide to understand why they might occur. | |
Symptom | Possible Cause of Pleural Mesothelioma Symptom |
Dyspnea | Inflammation of pleura\pleural effusion, tumors that obstruct airways, and collapsing lungs, or metastasis to pericardial tissues. |
Difficulty swallowing | Swollen neck, esophagus ( through metastasis), and other nearby organs |
Effusion | Pleural inflammation and increased serous fluid production |
Hoarseness | Swelling of neck or esophagus and pressure applied by growing tumors |
Dry Cough | Most commonly caused by pleurisy and pleural effusion or tumors that apply pressure to the esophagus and trachea |
Back Pain | Tumors in the back of the pleura, coughing, pleural effusion, and complications related to the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma |
Pleurisy | Inflammation of the pleura that occurs with effusion or infection (a.k.a. "pleuritis"), collegenized soft tissue, pressure from tumors in the pleura, and chest congestion |
Swelling | Swelling as a symptom of pleural mesothelioma is most often caused by tumors that obstruct the blood flow in veins, vessels, and arteries |
Fatigue | Anemia, loss of sleep due to chronic coughing, pleural effusion pain, or general discomfort, major organ dysfunction (such as reduced lung capacity), chronic pain, and emotional reactions to pleural mesothelioma including stress, anxiety, and depression |
Fever | Infections that are commonly associated with pleural mesothelioma and other cancers that are caused by a disabled immune system or low white blood cell counts, especially following chemotherapy |
Chest Pain | Many pleural mesothelioma symptoms cause pain, including: Pleurisy, pleuritic pain (occurs during deep breathing), aggressive or chronic coughing (muscle pain), tumors (apply pressure to nerves, muscles or chest wall), and pneumothorax (collapsing lung), swelling that blocks blood flow, cancer spreading into bones, joints, and muscle tissue |
Weight loss | At the onset of pleural mesothelioma symptoms, weight loss is attributed to the body's chemical inability to process nutrition properly. (This can also lead to the anemia that causes fatigue.) Many find it difficult to eat due to other symptoms and cancer treatments can exacerbate problems with processing nutrition |
Treating the Symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma
Pleural mesothelioma is a fatal malignant cancer with no known cure. Drug trials and procedures are often very appealing to patients facing life or death treatment decisions. Clinical trials carry great risk, but offer new hope for some patients. Traditional cancer treatments that include chemotherapy, radiation, and resection (surgically removing the cancer) are will, at best, allow the patient a slightly longer life expectancy.
Patients exhibiting many of the symptoms of this disease at once may be in very late stages of the cancer and are likely to receive a short prognosis. The average life expectancy of anyone diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma is currently less than one year, though a nominal number of cases (5%) have survived for 5 years or more following a conclusive diagnosis.
Because the prognosis for pleural mesothelioma is so grim, doctors will mostly or entirely seek to treat the symptoms of the disease in conjunction with any cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Complimentary treatments are intended to mitigate the effects of mesothelioma symptoms and, in some cases, the side effects of cancer treatment itself. Alternative treatments may also be suggested by some medical experts, however it’s important to remember that alternative treatments are rarely evaluated by the FDA and cannot be presumed to be safe for everyone.
Possible Options to Treat Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms* | |
Symptom | Complimentary Symptom Treatments |
Pleurisy | Pain medication, antibiotics, treatment of effusion, tumor resection |
Chest Pain | Pain medication, treatment of root cause (i.e. resection of tumors) |
Dry Cough | Lozenges, medication, tumor resection |
Dyspnea | Treatment of root causes (i.e. pleural effusion) |
Difficulty swallowing | Treatment of root causes (i.e. swelling) |
Fatigue | Treatment of root causes (i.e. reducing pain, correcting nutritional intake) |
Back Pain | Pain medications, tumor resection, other root treatments. |
Weight loss | Dietary adjustments and recommendations, eating well |
Fever | Antibiotics to treat fever inducing infections |
Hoarseness | Treatment of root causes (i.e. resection of tumors) |
Swelling | Treatment of root causes (i.e. resection of tumors, chemotherapy) |
Effusion | Pain medication, draining, or pleuradesis (mitigation to stop fluids) |
*Each person reacts to treatment differently. Only a doctor can tell a patient what options are safe treatments for symptoms. | |
The symptoms of this disease usually increase as the cancer progresses. Cell mutation and growth can cause new symptoms to be presented throughout the course of treatment. A doctor that deals with cancer, an oncologist, will assist in deciding appropriate complimentary and mitigating treatments depending on the stage of the cancer. It is important to emphasize that pleural mesothelioma symptoms are quite common among many conditions and only a biopsy can determine if a patients symptoms are caused by mesothelioma cancer.
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