My Friends Diagnosis Horrendous 3Cm Pancreatic Tumour

[gordiescotland1]

Hi there
My friend had an ERCP this morning and his wife sent me a message which was so awful. He is being discharged tonight. He has a 3cm tumour on the head of the pancreas with evidence of cancer in his liver and common bile duct. I don't know if 3cm is big or not? They say it Is definitely cancer but are coming back next week for another ultrasound and a biopsy of the one on the pancreas? Why the biopsy is that to stage It? It Is so bloody depressing I have lost 3 people i know to pancreatic cancer not one of them have been offered the whipple procedure its supposed to be pioneering only if caught early I guess

[Sqad]

Sorry for you and your friend gordie.......yes another ERCP is to biopsy another area to stage it.
The prognosis I;m afraid is poor.

[DTCwordfan]

I've just lost my old uni gf to it, seven week from diagnosis to death, so aggressive that it was - and she was in at Addenbrookes.... The whipple only works if they catch the cancer very early on - happened in the states to another friend, the op at the renowned MD Anderson in Houston. she was back to work in 3 months and with no radiation involved, just missing a lot of her stomach and intestines along with a lot more too...

[gordiescotland1]

4 years ago I lost a fantastic friend who was a doctor avoided. Bless him. 6 days from diagnosis until the end. It is a horrendous illness. Progress seems to be so slow as oppose to other cancers such as breast, bowel etc maybe initial symptoms are so vague they are similar to IBS, indigestion etc I donate regularly to pancreatic cancer research fund what we need more than anything is early diagnosis preferably a blood test to indicate pancreatic cancer

[Sqad]

Indeed gordie and thank you for your feedback.
Your friend wouldn't survive a Whipple procedure.

[Ringlet]

My mother died young of pancreatic cancer back in 1973.
At that time the condition was difficult to diagnose and she was thought to be suffering from inflamed bile duct due to gall stones.
The gall stones were removed, but the pancreatic cancer was found, and also found to be in her liver.
She only lived for 3 days after the operation.
It was a particularly cruel form of cancer at that time, although I have been told that treatment and paliative care have improved enormously since then.
Your friend has all my sympathy and he is lucky to have a caring friend like you.

[jno]

my OH had a Whipple op and was pronounced clear; but it came back a year later, sad to say. It's not a cure-all.

[anneasquith]

Oh jno, I’m sorry to hear about your oh.
40 years ago whipples was supposed to be a great breakthrough, unfortunately it isn’t the case then or now . Gordie you’ve had a bad time with your friends health .

[Buenchico]

This, sadly, won't help your friend, Gordie but if you, or anyone here, knows anyone who has a family history of pancreatic cancer (or is otherwise at higher risk of the disease), I suggest that you should urge them to sign up for the EUROPAC screening trial:
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/find-a-clinical-trial/a-study-to-identify-early-signs-of-cancer-of-the-pancreas-europac

[jno]

I will say my OH survived a couple of years longer than initially predicted and was delighted to get to know our new baby granddaughter. So it's not necessarily an instant death sentence, but it will depend very much on all the circumstances. I sympathise with you, gordie.

[gordiescotland1]

That looks a promising study. Anything that can be done to prevent cases or detect them early can only be a good thing.