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Clinical presentation of peritoneal mesothelioma
Yair I Z Acherman1, Laura S Welch, Christina M Bromley
1The Washington Cancer Institute, Washington Hospital Center, DC 20010, USA.
Aim:
To describe the clinical presentation of peritoneal mesothelioma and its impact on survival.
Methods:
Data was collected from 51 patients with peritoneal mesothelioma treated at the Washington Cancer Institute. The demographic, clinical and pathologic information were analyzed.
Results:
Pain was the most common symptom (recorded in 33% of patients); increased abdominal girth occurred in 31%, increased abdominal girth and pain in 5%, and a new onset hernia in 12%. In an additional 14% of patients, a variety of other clinical findings led to the diagnosis. There was a statistically significant difference in survival by gender, weight loss and volume of disease.
Conclusions:
Pain was the most common initial presenting symptom, with increased abdominal girth as a second. A more favorable prognosis occurred in women with a small disease volume.