pulmonary disorders
Mesothelioma
Diagnosis of Mesothelioma
Chest imaging (x-ray, CT) Pleural fluid cytology or pleural biopsy The diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma can be challenging. Chest imaging is key to diagnosis and staging. Typical findings on chest x-ray are nodular pleural thickening, pleural effusion, and loss of thoracic volume. Chest CT enables better visualization of the pleural changes and extent of the disease. PET-CT and MRI scanning may help identify more extensive disease. A pleural biopsy is usually required as pleural fluid cytology is usually nondiagnostic. The diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma is based on histologic appearance and immunohistochemical staining. However, the histology can make it challenging to distinguish mesothelioma from other tumors. Stagingis done with chest CT and MRI. MRI is helpful in characterizing tumor extension. There are no definitive screeningrecommendations for mesothelioma to detect early-stage disease in asbestos-exposed populations. 