What is the clinical presentation of a patient with Mesothelioma?
Pleural mesothelioma has an insidious onset of symptoms including shortness of breath and unilateral, non-pleuritic chest pain, which occurs in 60-90% of patients. Other symptoms such as cough, fever, weight loss, night sweats and generalized malaise are less common. These are non-specific symptoms that may occur with other disorders including lung and other cancers. There is no pathognomonic sign or symptom for mesothelioma. Patients may also be asymptomatic. The mean age at presentation of patients with mesothelioma is 60 years of age.
Peritoneal mesothelioma may present with abdominal distention and abdominal pain as a result of fluid accumulation. Fever, weight loss, constipation, anemia, clotting disorders, or an abdominal mass are other signs of peritoneal mesothelioma.
Upon physical exam the clinician may find unilateral diminished breath sounds, dullness to percussion of the thorax or abdomen. A late finding is digital clubbing, a finding associated with many cardio-pulmonary and neoplastic disorders.