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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Mesothelioma is a difficult disease to diagnose. One, it is so rare that only a few doctors have encountered it in their entire career. Second, both its physical symptoms and microscopic signs may mimic other cancer types and other less fatal diseases. While an accurate diagnosis is essential for all health issues, it is much more critical for mesothelioma because it is quite aggressive and life-threatening. These reasons are enough to make people who were exposed to asbestos and show similar signs to seek a second opinion.
Misdiagnosing Mesothelioma
Diagnosing mesothelioma is a challenge for most practitioners because the time from initial exposure to confirmed diagnosis (latency period) is so extensive. In the mesothelioma resource section of Bergman Legal (www.bergmanlegal.com), an article states that the first symptoms may appear from 20 years to 60 years from the time of first exposure. Health practitioners who cannot elicit information about possible asbestos exposure may not even diagnose it as such.
It does not help that mesothelioma often presents symptoms similar to other common diseases. Symptoms such as cough, chest pain, and difficulty of breathing are pretty identical to patients with COPD or emphysema secondary to vaping or smoking, rather than asbestos exposure.
Confirmatory tests such as CT scan, PET scan, and MRI are also not enough to diagnose mesothelioma definitively. Mesothelioma tumors look like lung cancer on imaging. Unfortunately, mesothelioma cancer cells are also similar to other cancer types. Thus, a biopsy is likewise non-conclusive.
Diseases Similar to Mesothelioma
Flu
Flu is a viral infection that causes respiratory symptoms. Some of the signs of influenza that may mimic mesothelioma symptoms include:
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Sudden fever
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Night sweats
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Dry, persistent cough
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Weakness and fatigue
Misdiagnosing mesothelioma is common during flu season. The affected age group may also confuse the diagnosis of mesothelioma with flu. Individuals older than 65 years old are often affected by the flu. The majority of mesothelioma patients received their diagnosis at the same age because of the disease’s long latency period.
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an infection which can be caused by fungi, viruses, and bacteria. It can also present symptoms similar to late-stage mesothelioma like pleural effusion, which can appear in 90% of mesothelioma patients. Pleural effusion can cause a dry cough, shortness of breath, and sharp chest pains. Signs that resemble pleural mesothelioma include:
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Pleural effusions
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Dry cough
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Chest pain
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Mild to moderate grade fever
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Chest pain
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Weight loss
Most practitioners familiar with mesothelioma often consider recurrent pleural effusions as a warning sign of mesothelioma in patients.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
COPD is a chronic disease of the lungs that causes difficulty in breathing, with most patients exhibiting symptoms of bronchitis, emphysema, or both. COPD patients may exhibit symptoms similar to mesothelioma, such as:
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Long-standing cough
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Wheezing
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Chest tightness
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Easy fatigability
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Shortness of breath
Patients with mesothelioma are also at high risk of developing COPD. Smoking remains the primary cause of COPD in most patients. Unlike mesothelioma, a CT scan of smoker lungs can quickly diagnose patients with COPD. Airway fractal dimension helps identify COPD patients with an increased risk of death.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
IBD can either be ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, which are both characterized by GI inflammation. Ulcerative colitis mainly affects the colon and rectum and is only present in the colon’s innermost lining. Crohn’s disease affects the whole GI tract but is more common in the small intestine. The inflammation can affect several layers of the wall of the GI tract.
Peritoneal mesothelioma can mimic signs of IBD, including:
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Diarrhea
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Abdominal pain
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Weight loss
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Easy fatigability
Since mesothelioma can mimic different diseases, health practitioners need to take an exhaustive patient history to elicit the asbestos exposure, if any. Patients, on the other hand, must volunteer the information if they think they have been exposed to asbestos.