Pancreatic Divisum

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I had my second opinion appointment today and this doctor

agrees that it is time to focus on the pancreas and the possible

divisum as a cause for my continuing problems. Though he did

say that it is impossible for pancreas problems (chronic or acute

pancreatitis) to cause elevated liver enzymes - so he is a little

perplexed about that, but suspects that I have two different things

going on and that one is over shadowing the other at times

which is why there is a difficulty in finding the right thing to do. So

the plan is to me to make sure that my insurance will cover the

costs of another ERCP with a pancreatogram done instead of

the cholangiogram that was done two weeks ago, to confirm the

existence of the pancreatic divisium (he is not 100% convinced

from the MRCP films - says that the duct looks abnormal even for

the abnormality - thinks that they may not have imaged the

pancreatic duct at all). If my insurance will cover it, he will do the

ERCP and endoscopic ultrasound. If it is divisium or just high

pressures, he will put a stent in, then in 6 weeks take it out to put

another one in, then 6 weeks after that yet another one. He says

though that the success rate is not that high for those not

experiencing acute bouts of pancreatitis. So it looks like, at the

minimal, I have one more ERCP to go through and possibly two

more after that in the next few months (hoping to get the first one

done in the next week or so).

Does this sound reasonable in your experience?

Laurie