My friend was diagnosed with ipmn in her pancreas. there are several cysts and lesions but no cancer. what would happen if one of her lesions or cyst were to leak. she is now running a fever everyday and feeling sick all over. she has an appt. on the 15th

IPMN : Ipmn is a premalignant condition of the pancreatic duct. It is often discovered "incidentally", that is, found by accident when getting a ct for another purpose. Once discovered, it must be monitored periodically to watch for the development of signs of cancer. The initial assessment of ipmn should include an MRI and an endoscopic ultrasound with biopsy of one or more of the cysts, if possible. An interventional biliary gastroenterologist would be the one to perform this procedure, and is often the one to continue to follow the patient. Typically, depending on the progress of the disease, an MRI is performed every year, and an endoscopic ultrasound is repeated every year (these would be alternating every six months). If the size, physical characteristics (septations, solid component) or biopsy characteristics of the cysts change, it may be necessary to perform a resection of part or all of the pancreas to prevent impending pancreatic cancer or treat a newly evolved pancreatic cancer. It sounds like your friend is at high risk for surgery given her heart condition. Some research has shown that the time from diagnosis or discovery of this condition to development of cancer is on the average of 5 years, but this should be interpreted with caution as each individual case varies considerably. The cysts of ipmn do not "leak". I suspect the fever and other symptoms are due to another cause.

Unlikely to be relat: Pancreatic cysts rarely leak. When they do, they cause more pain and nausea rather than fevers.