Good news, probably

Nurse Kate rang me this morning with mainly good news. The MRI found no lesions in my liver and all the images over three months show no increase in size of the lump. The most likely diagnosis therefore now “autoimmune pancreatitis” rather than cancer. So guess what, there will be more tests to try to confirm that using the material from the last EUS and a further blood test, oh happy day. If necessary, I may have to have yet another EUS. 

AIP is an example of a protean disease called IgG4 dependent disease, characterised by the immune system taking it into its head to attack one or another of the organs. In the case of the pancreas, it closely mimics pancreatic cancer and is hard to distinguish from it. It’s much rarer than the cancer but now seems very likely in my case, what a relief.

According to Wikipedia,  the treatment options are an oral steroid like prednisolone or, if too far advanced for that, an immunosuppressant like methotrexate.

Once I’ve got my head around this major change in my prospects, I’ll try and post at more length. One thing I can’t do tonight is have a drink – alcohol is a bad idea with pancreatitis.