Dr. Koteen just called and he consulted with the doctor/professor from the Mayo Clinic. Mayo is where the most research has been done on autoimmune pancreatitis. Anyway, that doctor said that Irv should be treated just as if he has autoimmune pancreatitis even if his IgG4 was normal.
First, the bile stents need to be removed via another ERCP surgical procedure. Irv wasn't sure, but a CAT scan will be done either before or after or both. Then the special steroids that work on strictures will be used to try and resolve Irv's symptoms.
Dr. Mastrangelo, the surgeon, is out of town this week so he will be consulted on Monday and Dr. Koteen will get back to Irv on dates for procedures, etc.
At this point we are ready to try anything to help Irv feel better. He is just not "normal" and we hope this will really help him get better. Since he has all the symptoms of autoimmune pancreatitis we are glad the specialist said to do what we hoped would be done. (Did that make any sense at all?) So, hopefully, sometime next week we will have a plan in place for this treatment regimen.
Please all think really strongly about this being the right thing to do! Then it will be the one we are wishing for.
Love to you all;
Penny
15 years ago
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