Mom Had Ampullary Cancer

A tumor was found in my mom's ampulla by pure accident in october.  The biopsy showed no cancer, just a benign tumor.  The doctors lagged on getting her treated and recently she had an ampullectomy and got the ampulla removed.  It had just been 6 months and that tumor showed to be cancer.  My mom had no symptoms, pain, nothing whatsoever.  They did a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread and it shows no sign of cancer anywhere.  Yet, the surgeon insists on doing the Whipple procedure "just in case" she has cancer.  My question is before doing that, isn't there a way to determine if in fact she still has some cancer left.  Since, in my opinion, it was determine on time because she didn't have any symptoms at all, wouldn't it be possible that the cancer was completely contained in the ampulla and now has been removed.  Are there other less invasive procedures besides the Whipple that can be done?

If I understand you correctly, your Mom first was told it was not cancer and then when surg was done , it was cancer.

Whipple's are done with "Cure" in mind.   Your mom is a great candidate.  Ampullary cancer is the door to pancreatic cancer.   Look at the anatomy.  Yes, the surgery is big, I had it!   However, to look forward to a possible life without cancer outweighed the serious surgery. 
This cancer is a "sneaky" one, not to be messed with.

Good luck to you and your Mom.  

By the way, I had ampullary cancer with no apparent spread too.  I forgot to mention that in my first response,

I also had ampullary cancer. I took a ct scan in dec. to make sure my colon cancer was still in remission after 4 yrs.(stage 3) which it is still in remission.The doctor saw my bile duct slightly enlarged so he ordered a mrcp done. still nothing,had a ercp done and had a stent put in the bile duct and small biopsy was done. NO symptoms what so ever! When he called me back he said it was cancer of the ampulla. Had the whipple procedure done on Feb 8 and found out after that it was stage 2 because it had went to 1 lypm node. A little rough after surgery but well worth it. Finished 6 weeks of radiation and oral chemo on May 2. AM doing fine and back at work.God Bless your mother and I pray everything will be fine for you and your family!

how long ago was this procedure?  have you had any problems since?

My procedure occurred on Dec 14 2006 and so far no problems and cancer free.    I would say I am normal as far as body functions tho I take Creon 10 (pancreatic enzymes) before each meal .... which is not a big deal to me.

 

I found out that I had Ampullary cancer on march 03 2008.Had an ERCP done to place stent in bile duct to relieve blockage,took pictures of the tumor , and biopsies which were negative.Referred to a surgical specialist at the Cleveland Clinic.We considered an Ampullectomy but he didn't like the way a part of the tumor looked so he ordered a Eus to be done.Biopsies from EUS were negative but showed growth inside of both ducts, bile and pancreatic.We decide on the Whipple procedure,( he still doesn't like the way that part of the tumor looks and the growth into the ducts).Whipple done April 24 got out of the hospital in eight days with no complications.I'm 52, male, and had a couple of weeks to prepare for the operation by putting on an extra ten pounds,did cardio and weight lifting.Initial biopsies on what they took out were negative.Went to follow up appointment on May 13.Pathology report shows a small part of the tumor was cancerous labelled a t1 tumor with no infiltation into the other tissues and no lynph node involvement with an eighty percent chance of survival. This is the best scenario you can get other than it not being cancerous.I was referred to an oncologist and he offers chemotherapy and radiation treatment but says there isn,t any facts that says it will have any effect.Because my tumor had medium to poor differentation,I am thinking of doing the chemo any way.If it comes back at least I have tried.If it does comeback it will show up in the liver or lungs which is not good.Moral of the story is the Whipple is the best procedure.There is a video on line from the university of Maryland of the procedure being done.Have it done by somebody who has done quite a few or specializes in it.