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What Do Small Spots On Liver Indicate?

Posted on Mon, 12 May 2014

Question: Good morning, By Husband at age 44 was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and survived after having treatment of a Whipple surgery, chemo and radiation. It has been 10 years and now they have found small spots on his liver. He goes back in 3 months to see if they have grown. how serious is this? Could it actually be cancer of the liver and if the spots are abscess of the liver should he be drinking?

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (1 hour later)

Brief answer...given below Detailed answer.... Hello, Thanks for the query. It is a well known fact that pancreatic cancer is the worst cancer a person can have,because in general it is diagnosed at a stage where it is already advanced. Only 5% people survive after 5 years of diagnosis of pancreas cancer. Whipple's procedure is the best procedure if it can be carried out and the average survival rate after 5 years of Whipple's is around 20%. It is really remarkable that your husband is still doing well after 10 years of surgery,however this procedure doesn't guarantee the complete cure. These liver spots could be metastatic spots and if it is so,then it is really a serious thing. If it turns out to be just liver abscess,then there is no danger. Evaluation at 3 months is very important to know. In any case,alcohol should be avoided. I hope it helps,however you may revert to me for any further query. Best of luck Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (13 minutes later)

Can you tell me if his blood work all came back ok and his Tumor Markers where good but the spots were to small to get a biopsy, what is the chance of it being cancer? Also if it is liver cancer do the tumors grow fast and will 3 months make a big difference? Thank you for your answers.

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (8 hours later)

Hello, Chances for metastatic cancer in liver is definitely There,although the exact percentage can not be said. At the time of first diagnosis,some cancerous cells do have the chance to migrate from the parent cancer site to distant site.These survive chemo as well as radiation.So technically speaking,it can definitely be metastasis. Three months is definitely a big time and these spots can grow bigger. Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (14 hours later)

Thank you for your answer. So even though his blood work and Tumor markers were good they chance is still there that it is cancer. Why would the doctor have us wait 3 more months to check again?

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (42 minutes later)

Hello, It can definitely be a cancer inspite of tumor markers being normal. If it is cancer,then it would grow in three months time. Thanks

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar