Guest guest Posted September 30, 2003 Report Share Posted September 30, 2003 I have just been trying to figure out how all of the ERCP's, CAT SCAN's, etc. missed Mike's damaged pancreas. We were always told there were " slight changes " , or " signs of chronic pancreatitis " . Then he has his surgery and we find out that 70% of it was " as hard as wood " . It just seems like someone should have told us something along the way. A year and a half ago, he had a cyst attached to his stomach for drainage and nothing was said then about his hardened pancreas. We had an ERCP and a CAT scan with pancreatic profile done within 1 1/2 months of the surgery, nothing was said then either. This just doesn't make any sense to me. Why even do the tests if they are that far off? Just can't stop wondering what happened. Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2003 Report Share Posted September 30, 2003 Hi Becky, Yes, I wonder the same thing myself. My oancreas always appears " normal " . The first CAT Scan I had, when I was diagnosed, showed my pancreas as three times its normal size. But since then, nothing unusual on a CAT Scan. MRCPs show some duct narrowing. I should think that things like " hardness " must be discernable through palpation. Anyway, it's a screwy disease! Jerry/NC ************************************************** TESTING > I have just been trying to figure out how all of the ERCP's, CAT > SCAN's, etc. missed Mike's damaged pancreas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 1, 2003 Report Share Posted October 1, 2003 Becky, unfortunately, chronic pancreatitis is one of the hardest things to diagnose, as the symptoms mimic a lot of other health problems, such as IBS and pancreatic cancer. Any we all know how hard it is to diagnose pancreatic cancer in the early stages of the disease. The current gold standard is the ERCP, but even that is only as good as the physician doing the ERCP. I had quite a few ERCPs and it took three separate doctors before one of them diagnosed me as chronic. The same is for radiographic methods, such as CTscan and MRCP. They are only as good as the radiologist reading the films. Quite a few members in the group have normal CT's and MRCP's, despite having CP. I wish I could give you a specific reason why Mike's condition was missed, but I can't. There are too many variables on why it wasn't caught earlier. I'm sorry. You might want to ask the doctors this question and see what they say. Kimber -- Kimber Vallejo, CA hominid2@... Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed physician or health care professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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