Information on the symptoms diagnosis staging and treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma. An exudate which is often cloudy and contains many cells and proteins results from disease of the pleura itself and is common to mesothelioma. A special x ray technique called a lateral decubitus film may be used to detect smaller effusions or to enable the physician to estimate of the amount of fluid present. Sometimes resembling viral pneumonia pleural mesothelioma patients may present with shortness of breath chest pain andor persistent cough some patients show no symptoms at all. When too much fluid forms the result is an effusion. The right lung is affected of the time with involvement of both lungs being seen in approximately of patients at the time of diagnosis.