peritoneal mesothelioma symptoms

Mesothelioma Symptoms

By Mandy Buchanan



There are different types of Mesothelioma depending on the organ affected and these different types of result in different symptoms. In this article we will consider the symptoms of pleural and peritoneal Mesothelioma.

Symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma

This affects the lungs and results in chest pain, coughing, and difficulty breathing. A common symptom experienced by those suffering from Pleural Mesothelioma is also a build up of fluid between the parietal pleura and visceral pleura in the chest. These symptoms are often not picked up early in the disease. This is the most common form of Mesothelioma with 75 percent of the cases.

Symptoms of Peritoneal Mesothelioma

This affects the stomach and results in abdominal pain, loss of appetite, weight loss, bowel problems nausea and fluid retention. This form is not as common as pleural Mesothelioma but the symptoms normally show up quicker after asbestos-exposure than for the pleural type.

Similarities and Differences

Pleural and peritoneal Mesothelioma are both malignant cancers that are caused primarily due to exposure to asbestos. The symptoms normally do not show up for many years after this exposure though with the average being 20-30 years after exposure for peritoneal Mesothelioma and 30-40 years for pleural Mesothelioma.

The symptoms of pleural and peritoneal Mesothelioma usually occur years after exposure to asbestos and vary depending on the organ that is affected with pleural symptoms being in the chest and breathing related, and peritoneal symptoms relating to the appetite, bowel movements and abdomen. Ultimately both types are malignant and more often than not result in death.

mesothelioma treatment

An Overview of Mesothelioma Treatment Options

By Dave Casey

Mesothelioma treatment options depend on many internal factors such as: stage, location, and the patient's age and desires. Screening

Imaging tests allow doctors to see a picture of the cancer site. These tests could include x-rays, CT scans (computed tomography), or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

New Screening Instrument: The Mesomark Test

The Food and Drug administration has just approved (January 2007) the world's first in-vitro test for mesothelioma. The Mesomark assay test, developed by Fujirebio Diagnostics is administered to patients diagnosed with biphasic or epithelioid mesothelioma by a simple blood test. The test measures proteins within the blood that reflect changes in the patient's tumor volume, a key factor for monitoring patient status and response to therapies.

Traditional Treatment Types

Pathologist's perform a biopsy to collect a tissue. Laproscopy is used in mesothelioma patients when imaging techniques suggest that the tumor has penetrated through the diaphragm. This information is important in evaluating a patient for potential pleurectomy or extrapleural pneumonectomy.

Radiation Therapy (using high-dose x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells.

Radiation - Although mesothelioma tumors are highly resistant to radiotherapy, these treatments are sometimes used to relieve symptoms arising from tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel.

Radiotherapy is commonly applied to the sites of chest drain insertion, in order to prevent the growth of the tumor along the track in the chest wall.

Chemotherapy - is used to stop the cancer cells from growing and dividing.

Palliative Procedures

This procedure raising concerns as the catheter can cause damage by embedding itself into the abdomen.

Pleurectomy, a palliative procedure, may be performed when more extensive surgery is not an option. The procedure does not effectively remove all tumors. It is considered the most effective means of controlling pleural effusion (fluid buildup) in cases where the lung's expansion is restricted by the mesothelioma.

Potentially Curative Procedures

These procedures are performed with "curative intent".
Pleurectomy/Decortication is usually performed on patients with early stage pleural mesothelioma disease (Stage I and selected Stage II), and attempts to remove all gross tumor.

Extrapleural Pneumonectomy is surgery to remove a diseased lung, part of the pericardium, part of the diaphragm and part of the parietal pleura. This type of surgery is used most often to treat malignant mesothelioma and is combined with traditional chemotherapy and/or radiation, gene therapy, immunotherapy or photodynamic therapy.

Cytoreductive Surgery removes visible tumors in the peritoneal cavity. The remaining cancer cells are treated by Intra-Peritoneal Hyperthermic (heated) Chemotherapy (IPHC) and then delivered to the abdominal cavity.

New or Experimental Therapies

Gene Therapy: The best known tumor suppressor gene is called p53. If this gene is damaged or non existent oncogenes or cancer genes multiply at an abnormal rate. The virus is injected into the pleural space in the chest, where mesothelioma develops as an attempt to kill the cancer cells.

Drug or Vaccine Therapy

Patients with mesothelioma have much higher levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) a chemical controlling blood vessel than people with any other type of cancer. Trials are being conducted to see if VEGF can be blocked, thus stopping the growth of blood vessels feeding the mesothelioma tumors.

One trial recently reported that this drug may increase survival for patients with lung cancer. An American phase 2 trial tested bevacizumab for mesothelioma, in combination with chemotherapy drugs. Bevacizumab is still in the experimental phase and much larger trials are needed before we will know how effective it will be in treating mesothelioma and other types of cancers.

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

In Photodynamic therapy a drug called a photosensitizing agent is injected into the bloodstream and absorbed by the body's cells rendering the cells sensitive to light. PDT has to be combined with surgery to treat patients in the early stages of mesothelioma. PDT is still in the trial stages and very experimental.

Clinical Trials and Eligibility

Clinical Trials provide research by using a sampling of people affected by the cancer. The National Cancer Institute states that the purpose of most listed clinical trials is to test new cancer treatments or new methods of diagnosing, screening for or preventing cancer.

Some trials allow participation after other treatments have failed, while others require that the patient did not have prior treatment. Prevention trials - study ways to reduce the risk, or chance, of developing cancer. Most prevention trials are conducted with healthy people who have not had cancer. These trials use drugs, vitamins or diet to reduce risk of cancer. Some trials are conducted with people who have had cancer and want to prevent the return of cancer (recurrence), or reduce the chance of developing a new type of cancer.

Screening Trials - study ways to detect cancer. Diagnostic Cancer Trials - develops new tests or scans

Treatment Trials - studies new drugs or combinations of drugs; new ways of giving treatment, and new types of treatment

Quality of life trials explore ways to improve the comfort and quality of life of cancer patients and cancer survivors. These trials may study ways to help people who are experiencing nausea, vomiting, sleep disorders, depression, or other effects from cancer or its treatment.

Genetics Study Trials - are sometimes part of another cancer clinical trial. The genetics component of the trial may focus on how genetic makeup can affect detection, diagnosis, or response to cancer treatment.

Clinical trials are conducted in 4 phases:

Phase 1 trials look at whether a trial treatment drug is safe or has any harmful effects and attempts to establish the right dosage required.

Phase 2 trials look at the effectiveness of the treatment.

Phase 3 trials test a new treatment against the existing standard treatment. Phase 4 trials are carried out after a drug has been licensed. They collect information about side effects, safety and the long term risks and benefits of a drug.

Ongoing research attempts to improve mesothelioma treatment options but clinical trials will not all result in new and better treatment. After testing, it may be discovered that the treatment being tested does not work, or that it has worse side affects than existing treatments.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma

What Does Peritoneal Mesothelioma Mean?
By Yachi Verma


A lining can be found in the abdominal cavity. When the cells of this lining start multiplying at an irregular rate, then the condition is termed as Peritoneal Mesothelioma. The Peritoneal Mesothelioma is also known as the cancer of the peritoneal region. The exact cause of cancer in the region is still undecided, but researchers and doctors hold the opinion that the condition is the result of constant exposure to asbestos. This condition can be considered as a subdivision of asbestos cancer Mesothelioma. This opinion was formulated when studies conducted throughout the world found a high convergence of the cancer on people who are constantly subjected to asbestos.

The Peritoneal Mesothelioma is known to affect personnel falling in the 20 to 40 age bracket. Swelling of the abdomen is the usual symptom, because the lining covers the entire abdominal cavity. Along with the swelling, the patient might experience pains in the region. If you know some who work with asbestos and who is suffering from the above-mentioned symptoms, then they should be subjected to medical tests to diagnose the condition.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma is basically classified into two types. They are the dry Peritoneal Mesothelioma and the wet Peritoneal Mesothelioma. It is tough for the physicians to diagnose this condition, and it might require the assistance of trained physicians to study the scan report and resolve their theory. The initial phase of the treatment includes eliminating these accumulated fluids from the region, with the help of suitable surgical measures.

Even if an expert in the niche diagnoses the condition, the treatment options are known to be futile in most of the cases. The stages of infection of the cancerous cells are classified into three stages. In the second stage, the major part of the abdominal cavity might be already infected and treatment options report futile from this stage. With the help of appropriate medications, the growth of cancer cells can be inhibited to a great extent.

In the third and the final stage, the cancer cells might have grown apart from the abdominal cavity. The patient will stop responding to the treatment at this stage and doctors are known to prescribe painkillers to eliminate the pains in the region. Doctors have recorded instances where a patient undergoing stage three could recover, because his body responded to the chemotherapy sessions.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a Type of Cancer
By Alan Jason Smith

Mesothelioma is a cancer affecting the mesothelial cells lining the chest and abdomen. Difficulty breathing, abdominal and chest pain, fever and can all be attributed to other causes, so that cancer is time to advance fairly well before diagnosis usually happens. Due to the difficulty of diagnosing mesothelioma, survival time after diagnosis is estimated at around one year.


There are two main types of mesothelioma. The first type, pleural mesothelioma spreads within the chest cavity and sometimes involves the lung. This type of cancer or metastasize in any of the organs of the body including the brain.


Metastasis occurs more frequently than previously thought, and signals disease progression. Symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include persistent pain in the chest and severe difficulty breathing caused

of pleural effusion, or fluid in the pleural lining cough, weight loss, fever and are also common symptoms. Survival time for this type of mesothelioma is better than the peritoneal mesothelioma. The second type of mesothelioma is peritoneal mesothelioma. This cancer penetrates the abdominal cavity, liver, spleen and sometimes the intestine. The predominant symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include persistent pain in the region, and bloating, both due to accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity and organs involved. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting and swollen legs, fever and difficulty moving the bowels. The outlook for peritoneal mesothelioma is worse than that of pleural mesothelioma, a survival time of only ten months past diagnosis.


Mesothelioma takes two rare forms. Benign Mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a cancer of the peritoneum. Mesothelioma of the pericardium is a very rare heart cancer. Mesothelioma may occur in the ovaries and the scrotum. The outlook for these unusual types of mesothelioma, with the exception of benign mesothelioma, very bad.


Passage of Mesothelioma is divided into four stages. The play is based on X-rays, CT and MRI images. Treatment decisions and prognosis depend on the stage of mesothelioma and type if mesothelioma. In the first stage Mesothelioma is located in the pleura, lung, pericardium, or diaphragm, and is localized on one side of the body. Mesothelioma penetrates the chest wall or esophagus during the second stage. The third step involves penetrating the diaphragm and peritoneum, cancer and sees the spread of more distant lymph nodes. The fourth and final stage occurs when the tests provide evidence of metastases in distant organs. In the fourth stage, mesothelioma spreads through the blood of these new attractions.


Mesothelioma is most often caused by exposure to asbestos. Asbestos is commonly used for insulation of homes and businesses. Radiation from thorium dioxide can also cause mesothelioma. Zeolite, a silicate materials, asbestos can cause mesothelioma and. Cases of zeolite-induced mesothelioma in the region Anatoli centralize Turkey.

Mesothelioma Info

A Glimpse at Mesothelioma Info From the Past

By Mike Selvon

If you are looking for mesothelioma information you will find that this is the term given to cancer caused by asbestos. This is a disease that primarily sought by those who worked closely with asbestos products and materials. What is asbestos? It is a mineral that has some remarkable properties by fire and an incredible insulator.


In the 1900s, was the first publicly stated that asbestos and all things that contain asbestos, can cause death among those who are constantly exposed to it for a long time. Twenty years later, doctors in England have enough information about mesothelioma definitively support the relationship between the duration of exposure to asbestos and death, also mainly due to lung disease.

It was also found that better ventilation, not only indoor air quality is improving, but risks and deaths were low. These steps were legalized and became standard procedure in England and in many other countries worldwide.


Although mesothelioma information is widely distributed among producers and all those associated with making and promoting asbestos products until 1970 that the workers were finally protected from harm. Until then, everyone decided to ignore the dangers of considering only profits that these asbestos-containing products are generated. At the time of the deadly material already claimed many lives of people who have worked with him and the lives of many members of their families.


It took the world more than half a century to understand, accept and take action to curtail one of the most harmful side effects in the industry. Although complete mesothelioma information was known in the 1900s, people have been victims of profit as asbestos products are in high demand at this time and lower class workers were considered spent.


Unfortunately, during those 50 plus years, many cases have developed asbestos and many people who have worked with and been exposed to the material already developed cancer or mesothelioma and were on their death bed.