A mesothelioma symptom might not appear until between twenty and fifty years prior to the exposure to asbestos, which makes the disease difficult to diagnose or screen for, although there are some screening procedures which show some degree of effectiveness.
Symptoms of mesothelioma can include coughing, shortness of breath, pain in the chest, weight loss, swelling and pain of the abdomen, bowel obstruction, blood clotting problems, anemia, fever, general pain, 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 the disease, and with different variations on the disease such as peritoneal mesothelioma or the more common pleural mesothelioma.
However, diagnosis of mesothelioma is often very difficult because any or all these symptoms can be caused by a variety 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. 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.
Mesothelioma is a relatively rare form of cancer. It is found in only about one per million people, compared to a lung cancer incidence of one thousand per million people exposed to smoking. A combination of asbestos exposure and smoking can increase a person's likelihood of getting the mesothelioma, although smoking on its own has not been show to cause the disease.
When diagnosed, mesothelioma can be treated by surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, often in a combination. Large legal settlements are often obtained by people with the disease. It is important to remember that what might appear to be a mesothelioma symptom is much more likely to be an indication of a less dangerous problem.
For more relevant information see our Blog Post Mesothelioma Symptom
For more relevant information see our Blog Mesothelioma Reports
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