Symptoms of Mesothelioma

Peritoneal mesothelioma represents about one fourth of all MMe. It grows inside the abdominal cavity and it attacks the organs located inside of it, such as the liver, the spleen and the intestine. As in pleural mesothelioma, pain is the most common symptom of peritoneal mesothelioma, primarily abdominal. Other recurring symptoms include loss of appetite, nausea, vomit, swelling of lower limbs and fever. In addition, the patient can also experience abdominal enlargement due to the accumulation of fluids inside the abdomen (abdominal dropsy). The obstruction of the intestinal lumen can be of various levels and can cause problems to the alvus, or even an intestinal obstruction. It is also possible that an originally pleural mesothelioma, at an advance stage, could extend beyond the diaphragm (the muscular fascia that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) into the peritoneum.

The prognosis of a peritoneal mesothelioma is much more severe than that of a pleural mesothelioma, and the average survival rate is 10 months from the onset of the first clinical manifestations.