Your doctor will likely take your blood for testing. In this case they will run a specific test to assess your “tumour markers”. This won’t specifically confirm your cancer, but it will indicate the likelihood of your diagnosis.

An ultrasound is a non invasive way to see your pancreas and the surrounding area. The image is created using sound waves. The technician will put cold gel on your abdomen and sweep the probe in various sections of your abdomen to take pictures.

A CT Scan stands for “Computerized tomography” which will use x-ray beams to get pictures inside your body. This will take multiple x-rays and compile them, making it different from single x-ray image. This will help the doctors identify the location of cancer. This may, or may not, require you to ingest “contrast” which is a medical dye. This can help to make the images clearer and easier to see the tumour. This is a non-invasive scan, but will require you to lie still on a table for approximately 10-30minutes.

A PET scan stands for “positron emission tomography”. A PET scan allows us to see very small cancer cells that are not seen through other imaging. You will have a sugar solution through an IV line. After waiting for 30-90 minutes (so that the solution can spread throughout the body) you will then have the scan. The solution collects in all cells, but particularly in cancer cells as they use more energy. You may also have variations of the PET scan such as an “FDG-PET”- this just means a different radioactive solution is used . Similarly a “68-Gallium PET” uses a different solution and is mainly used for Neuro Endocrine tumours.

This is another form of imaging that stands for “magnetic resonance imaging’, which uses multiple images to look at your pancreas and other organs, and “magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography “ which uses more detailed images to see the common bile ducts. This test may require you to fast for a few hours.

During an endoscopic ultrasound, a small flexible camera is passed from your mouth to your small bowel. This camera also has a ultrasound probe at the tip allowing the doctor to see all the layers of the pancreas and ducts This will help show whether the cancer has spread to nearby tissue. They may also take a biopsy during this procedure.es here

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, which is more commonly referred to as an ERCP, is a procedure that allows the surgeon or gastroenterologist to see the common bile duct and/or pancreatic duct. This is done by passes a flexible camera through the mouth and using X-ray, at the same time, to see identify if there are any blockages in the ducts that may be cancer. If the ducts are blocked, the operating doctor may insert a tube, called a stent, that will keep the duct open.

A laparoscopy is a procedure that will require you to undergo a general anaesthetic in hospital. This is a minimally invasive procedure where “Ports” (thin tubes) are inserted, using small cuts into bellybutton and abdomen. The abdomen is inflated with gas and the surgeon is able to see your organs and, in some cases, the tumour itself. They will also take more biopsies to determine exactly where the cancer is, and if it has spread anywhere else.