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Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: 3 hours ago | Replies (1383)Comment receiving replies
Hello. A recent MRI showed "T2 bright lesions" in my pancreas with "no obvious connection to the pancreatic duct." I know this is not cancer...for now. Protocol states follow-up MRI in six months. As a two-time cancer survivor (breast cancer 1998 and thyroid 2008), my sense is that six months is too long to wait. I am following up with my primary care and obtaining other medical opinions. Am I over-reacting? I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has been here. Thank you.
Replies to "Hello. A recent MRI showed "T2 bright lesions" in my pancreas with "no obvious connection to..."
Hello @optimist1591 and welcome to Mayo Connect. You are asking some good questions and I see that @markymarkfl has already provided you with some great information.
In your post you said, "Am I over-reacting?" Please know that advocating for the best health care possible is simply a wise decision.
Will you continue to post with updates as to how you are progressing?
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@optimist1591 , I can't say much about the protocols specifically, but if you are considered a HRI (High-Risk Individual) there's usually a separate category in the flow chart.
Most of the HRI assessments include genetic testing for inherited mutations and discovery of close blood relatives with cancer history. Since you've already had two types of cancer, I suspect you'd fall into a higher-risk category that justifies more frequent testing.
Sometimes they interweave different types of tests (EUS, MRI/MRCP, PET) in shorter intervals to get different views and check for rapid changes, then back off to less frequent monitoring if all appears stable.
But with your history, I would err on the side of caution... Seek out a second opinion, second imaging appointment, and start getting fairly regular blood tests for CA19-9 and CEA to get a baseline of those. They're not gold-standard indicators on their own, but it's easier to know if they're increasing when you have a healthy reference to compare them to. Get a germline (hereditary) genetic test like Invitae if you haven't already.