Performing a concurrent bronchoscopy may be vital for making a differentiation between mesothelioma and metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung, since endobronchial lesions are seldom seen in mesothelioma.
A new approach to differentiate between mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma of the lung is currently under development. This new approach relies on gene expression profiling, by identifying specific genes that are expressed in malignant mesothelioma but not in case of adenocarcinoma or normal lung tissue.