← Return to Found PNET on tail of pancreas but told it’s nonfunctional

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@vmchow

Many things go into this kind of decision. How old are you? Are you symptomatic? If there was no biopsy, how do they know it's a NET? My surgeon also told me to wait and watch, but i went ahead with a FNAC and it came back expressing chromogranin. Then dota confirmed it and showed no obvious spread, just the one tumor. I did another MRI in February. The tumor had remained static. I opted to have it out anyway. If the tumor is not changing and you have no symptoms and your doctor thinks it's just a serous cyst, then wait and watch. But if you aren't sure of what it is, why are the docs taking a chance? These are just thoughts. There's a tremendous amount of controversy about wait and watch. I'd like to know your doctor's rationale for waiting, but I'd also follow his advice. I'm 65 and didn't want to chance having to have this same surgery, which is major, when i was older and more frail.

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Replies to "Many things go into this kind of decision. How old are you? Are you symptomatic? If..."

Thanks for your thoughts. I am in Canada. I am 56 with no symptoms. A Dototate 68 PET scan was done which showed uptake in the pancreas lesion. In Canada and Europe the protocol is that for any tumor less that 2 rms it is a survelliance approach. So at 1.7 cms I am in that boat. Scans every 6 months going forward. My understanding is that it’s purely a risk balance of touching the pancreas and creating issues versus the higher probability it will not grow or spread. I know I would feel more comfortable with a biopsy to know if it’s a fast grower is my thinking.