Fine needle aspiration drainage procedure to Angie

[Guest guest]

Angie,

If it is indeed a pseudocyst in the head portion of your pancreas, fine needle

aspiration of some of the debris is possible. I had this done on the largest of

my two pseudocysts in May of 2001. Prior to the procedure, my largest

interior pseudocyst near the pancreas head was 6.8 cm. I also had another

one in the tail. At the time they weren't sure what the large masses in my

pancreas was. They suspected that it was pseudocysts, but wanted to do a

biopsy and some drainage to determine exactly what was there. The most

often used procedure to verify this is to do a CT-scan guided fine needle

aspiration, which drains the tissue and debris from the pseudocyst.

My procedure was done as an out-patient. I went to the out patient clinic at

Hilton Head Regional Hospital. Once there, they had me undress, put on a

hospital gown, and wait in a private cubicle with a bed and a chair for my

spouse or whoever would be driving me home. An out-patient nurse came

and took my medical history and gave me an oral sedative. She then had me

lie back on the bed so that she could clean my abdomen and wash it all down

with that solution that dyes your skin a stunning shade of yellow-orange.

Then the Chief of Radiology came and introduced himself and explained the

procedure.

When they took me on another bed into the radiology CT-scan section, the

sedative was already making me drift in and out of awareness. A radiology

technician inserted an IV in my arm and assisted me onto the scanning table.

Another type of sedative was put into the IV, enough so that I was sort of

aware of what was going on, but knocked out enough so that I felt whoozy

and sleepy. A local was injected into my abdomen and then they scanned the

abdomen and pelvic areas. After scanning my abdomen and reading the

films, they inserted a very large syringe type needle with a large clear

cylinder

attached to it. In all honesty, I can't say that it was painless....it hurt

immensely, and I felt a very uncomfortable pressure. Once the cylinder was

full, they took out the needle and bandaged the area where the needle had

been inserted. They did a second CT-scan of the area after they were

finished.

They wheeled me back to the cubicle and monitored me for two or three more

hours before I was released to go home with my husband. They gave me

enough Hydrocodone pills to last for several days to treat the pain, with

reassurances that I'd be notified of their results as soon as all the specimens

they'd collected had been analyzed at a ton lab. They did confirm at

that time that the mass HAD been a large pseudocyst, and that they'd reduced

the size of it down to about 4.0 X 4.6, but weren't able to take any more out

because their cylinder hadn't been larg enough!! They were more concerned

about checking for cancer than draining the pseudocyst, and assured me that

they would call me as soon as they got the results. It took about ten days to

get the news that the tissue sample was benign of cancer, and what a relief

that was!

The area where the needle had been inserted was sore and tender for about

7-8 days, but the pain was easily reduced with the Hydrocone analgesic, and

I was able to stop all pain meds after the third day.

If you have any other questions about this procedure, just post again.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

Bluffton, SC

South Carolina State Rep.

South Eastern Regional Rep., PAI

http://www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html

Note: All comments or advice are from personal experiences or opinion only,

and should not be a substitute for consultation with a medical professional.

Angie wrote:

>If it is in the head of pancreas and not on the outside can they do that?