Pancreatic Cancer Scare

[smaug]

My wife is a very healthy 45 year old.

After noticing come dark urine and having some back pain of the right side and some cramping, she went in to the doctor. They ran blood work and it all came back fine, specifically to this post, they did not find heightened bilireim (sp). No yellow skin, eyes or other signs of jaundice except the urine.

They found what they termed "common, classic" ovarian cysts, that they thought where the cause of the cramping and perhaps the back pain.

Then it got scary. They did an ultra sound in which there was a "possible, questionable, minor" enlargement of the head of the pancreas. No inflammation, mass, cysts, lesion, or bile blockage noted. Cat scan has been ordered.

So, scary parts that are pancreatic cancer symptoms or factors:

--- dark urine sign of jaundice

-- poss symptomatic back pain

-- possible enlarged head of pancreas

-- terrible history of colon cancer in her family, which I understand can be a genetic cousin to pancreatic genetic proclivity

-- one episode of vomiting a few weeks back

Signs that are encouraging:

-- pain was not in the center of abdomen and back

-- no yellowing or signs of jaundice besides dark urine

-- no bilirem (sp) in blood test

-- no tumor/mass noted in ultra sound

-- no ultrasound signs of any other abnormalities in kidney or liver

-- no weight loss or loss of appetite.

-- one recent vomiting episode, but it was just once and may have been flu

-- no itching
=========================================

So....we are freaking out until we get the cat scan. How freaked out should we be? It seems that there are only a few symptoms of pancreatic cancer, and she has at least a suspicion of most or all of them -- enlarge of the head of the pancreas, back pain, sign of jaundice...

help

PS: one question- is dark urine an early/precursor of jaundice, or a later symptom?

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  I would withhold a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer until I can prove the presence of a pancreatic mass.  So calm down and just wait for the CAT scan.  The enlarged head of the pancreas could also be a case of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).  The inflamed pancreas could compress on parts of the bile duct, which runs near it, and this compression can result in obstruction of bile flow and damming back of the bile into the blood stream, leading to jaundice.

If pancreatic cancer is highly suspected, a tumor marker test called CA 19-9 can also be ordered by your doctor.  CA 19-9 is markedly elevated in pancreatic cancer.

[avariel]

My wife went for a medical check up 6 months ago and she order some test for the cancer marker. The result shown that her CA 19.9 reading at 200. Information from the net saying that CA 19.9 is related to pancreatic cancer, ovary cancer, colon cancer etc. She is 32 and do not have family history of cancer. Her medical report results other than the CA 19.9 is normal. She had done the ultrasound 6 months ago came back normal accept 4cm cyst on the left. She occasionally have abdominal pain and no other symptoms. My question is could it be pancreatic cancer and what should we do next?

Thanks in advance

[CaliforniaGirl1974]

What to do and where to go with 1.5 cm leasion on head of pancreas ?Right now  i have to wait to see GI  first time  for 4 months, since I have  Medi-Cal insurance (.
Is any one want look at it in research purpose?  

I went to pancreas cancer simposium in San Francisco, it is was just handfull number of survavors ( .
I'm extremely worried because of my symptoms and looking for an answer on the web doesn't help at all. I now start thinking I may have pancreatic cancer.

Here is the list of my symptoms:
_floatind stool
- Abdominal pain:
- Back pain
- Loss of appetite
- Gastric reflux
- Nausea

Thank you