Any disease eventually shows symptoms. Most disorders of the internal system are clearly visible and this rings a bell. Mesothelioma has its own symptoms, but they tend to appear after much damage is done, and the disease does not have many specific symptoms. Mesothelioma is a cancerous tumor occurring in the lining of the lungs and chest cavity, often associated with exposure to asbestos dust.

An individual with mesothelioma cancer usually develops symptoms such as exertion dyspnea (difficulty with breathing) and decreased physical exercise tolerance. The insidious onset and difficulty in breathing are considered as the most usual presenting symptoms. The cancer, which slowly encases the lung tissue and invades the chest wall, produces pleural effusion (pleural fluid - or fluid in the pleural or lung cavity) in about seventy five percent of victims.

When the volume of fluid increases few changes like shortness of breath and sometimes pain ranging from mild to stabbing can occur. In few cases, the person may experience dry cough. Normally, when the doctor listens to the patients chest with a stethoscope, normal breath sounds are muted and tapping on the chest will reveal dull rather than hollow sounds.

Symptoms or signs of airway disease include coughing, phlegm, and wheezing and are not common, but can occur in heavy smokers who have associated habitual bronchial inflammation. The chest x-ray depicts diffusely distributed, tiny irregular or linear opaqueness (non-transparencies), usually most noticeable in the lower lung zones.

In these cases, only minimal x-ray changes are visible and are easily mistaken for other conditions. Parenchyma is the tissue characteristic of a body organ and it can be seen by using diffusing method or localized pleural thickening. The illness advances around 1 to 5 years in about 5% to 12% of patients whose exposure has ended. As a result, a marked deterioration in oxygenation happens in lungs along with respiratory failure.

Many of these symptoms occur only at the advanced stages of the disease. The symptoms that are visible are very common ailments, like colds, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The onset of these minimal symptoms also hampers the treatment options, and in turn the affected ones lifetime.