Pancreas biopsy

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SaraMV

SaraMV

Member Since 2022
Have any of you had one performed on your cat? Taz is going in for an ultrasound in the morning, to look at a lump on his pancreas. I have been doing research on needle aspiration in case they recommend it, and it scares me. I guess I'm just looking for feedback, experiences, etc.

Taz had 3 cysts on his pancreas in January. According to an xray yesterday, at least one of them has grown in size. His fPLI came back at 50, but the vet said all of his other bloodwork looks good with nothing concerning on it.
 
I had a kitty who had a needle aspirate done on his pancreas. It was inconclusive. :( Beside a suspicious pancreas, he had dark patches on the lungs. We let him go a few days later, he wasn't eating and looked in pain. Clinical symptoms told a better story.
 
FrostD said:
I do not have experience but my main question would be - how would it affect your decision making? If it's cancerous, would you do surgery? If not, would you let it be?
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I'm not really sure. My hope would be that it was fluid filled and could be drained but I know that's not very likely. Anything dealing with the pancreas is terrible. :(
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I had a kitty who had a needle aspirate done on his pancreas. It was inconclusive. :( Beside a suspicious pancreas, he had dark patches on the lungs. We let him go a few days later, he wasn't eating and looked in pain. Clinical symptoms told a better story.
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:(

Did your cat go under for the procedure?
 
Our needle biopsies, two on cats and one on a dog were all inconclusive. They didn't get a big enough cell sample.
The dog had it worse, they concluded it was an untreatable cancer and she would be gone by Christmas. A year later no one would own up to the fact it was a cyst in her GI tract.
Taz is 14 yes? I won't give you the "he's had a good life" speech because I've had cats that made it to 17, 19 and 23. Just be adamant about getting a straight answer and not a 'best guess'.
 
Dickson reminded me - even the ones for the dog that came back cancerous still weren't entirely conclusive and technically warranted more testing/invasive stuff (she's an old girl so I'll only put her through so much). They were unable to identify the stage of the cancer, which would have made a big difference in how treated and prognosis (just surgery to remove, surgery+chemo, etc...lots more life vs 6 months).

I'm not saying it would have changed my choice to do the aspirations, but it was definitely frustrating to not have solid answers. I've also had samples for cytology just literally die/go necrotic (is that the word I want?) on the way to the lab and they couldn't do anything with it either.
 
@SaraMV promise to keep us updated? Nobody knew until right now that Marco is getting older and headed down the same mysterious path as Taz.
I just thought you should know you're not alone.
 
We were supposed to take him for his ultrasound today but we decided to do it Tuesday instead. There were several reasons why, including it involving a drive on one of the busiest roads in California (between Los Angeles and Las Vegas) on a holiday weekend.

From what you've all said, I'm hearing that a lot of times an aspiration will come back inconclusive? It almost makes it not worth doing. I don't know if I'd be ok with putting him through invasive exploratory surgery. Especially when dealing with his pancreas. :(
 
SaraMV said:
almost makes it not worth doing / putting him through invasive exploratory surgery
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I'm not a vet, a radiologist or a lab tech so all I can do is relay my previous experiences with this. This is not medical advice.
>Ultrasounds always look like a fuzzy black & white photo of clouds to me and the results have always been a best guess. You can detect a mass but you're not getting any cell structure to put under a microscope. I think that's why our dog was diagnosed with a cancerous mass instead of what it really was, a benign cyst.
>The guilt trip. Jasper had never ending neurological problems and we finally ended up putting him through a spinal tap and an MRI, inconclusive. Two weeks after that he was gone and I finally learned my lesson, money and love are not the same thing. We knew before that this was pointless but didn't listen to our hearts.
That was Jasper, not Taz.
>Marco was abused for seven years before we rescued him and has had another seven great years here. He's a very trusting cat that likes the car but like anyone he has his limits. Right now we're treating him with Prednisone and he's gaining weight. I'm happy to do that for him but I will not make him some object of curiosity for a specialist who will forget his name two minutes after we walk out the door.
Sorry Sara and Taz, that's all I've got. It would be so wrong for me to say "do this but don't do that". If this becomes a quality of life issue that will be up to you and we'll support you all the way.
 
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