Thoracic tumor

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is more common in men than in women (2:1). Most patients are between 40 and 70 years old, the average age of foreign patients is 60 years old, and China is only 45.2 years old. Typical clinical manifestations of patients with malignant mesothelioma include chest pain, dyspnea, cough, weight loss, fatigue, occasional fever, and night sweats. These symptoms can be present for months before diagnosis. Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma may present with increased abdominal circumference, abdominal pain or discomfort, constipation, nausea, and occasionally umbilical hernia. The most common clinical manifestation of malignant pericardial mesothelioma is sudden death, which is often found at autopsy. Other symptoms include dyspnea, fever, night sweats, congestive heart failure, restrictive pericarditis, pericardial effusion, pericardial tamponade, and myocardial infarction. Intrathecal mesothelioma often presents as a unilateral testicular mass.

Abnormal physical signs found in patients with malignant mesothelioma include dullness on percussion, reduced respiration during auscultation, and bilateral thorax asymmetry. Early and middle stage lesions are often confined to the unilateral chest cavity. The most common sites of metastasis include mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes, contralateral pleura, lungs, and thorax. Liver, bone and brain metastases are rare. Locally and extensively progressive lesions often lead to death, often due to respiratory or heart failure.