19Dec 2018 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments
Neuroendocrine Cancer: a needle in a haystack, primary vs secondary

Neuroendocrine Cancer: a needle in a haystack, primary vs secondary

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Technical NETs
It's no secret that Neuroendocrine Cancer can be difficult to diagnose. Although earlier diagnosis is improving (as reported in the SEER database report issued in 2017), there is still a lot of ground to cover. There are a number of reasons why these Neoplasms are often difficult to correctly and quickly diagnose including but not limited to: - they grow silently, they often produce vague symptoms which can be mistaken for much more common illnesses, and their complexity is not fully understood. I wanted to cover two different aspects of the problem of finding NETs. Firstly, in finding the primary tumour so that the type of NET can be properly established - this drives the best treatment regime. Secondly in finding all the tumours, as this establishes the correct and…
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31May 2018 by Ronny Allan 14 Comments
Gallium 68 PET Scans – Into the Unknown

Gallium 68 PET Scans – Into the Unknown

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs
OPINION Cancer is a growth industry ...literally! More people are being diagnosed than ever before. Fortunately, more people are surviving than ever before. This is against a backdrop of better awareness, better screening in the big population cancers, and to a certain extent better diagnostic tools, all of which is leading to earlier diagnosis. So how does this affect Neuroendocrine Cancer? According to the latest SEER database figures for Neuroendocrine Cancer, one reason for the 7 fold increase in incidence rates since the 1970s is all of those things above including better diagnostics. This has led to a revised set of epidemiological information in many countries that have made the effort to accurately update their cancer registries and there are consistent reports of incidence rates way beyond the recognised rare…
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27Jan 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments
Endoscopy for NETs – taking the camera to the tumour

Endoscopy for NETs – taking the camera to the tumour

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Technical NETs
An Endoscopy is a procedure where the inside of your body is examined using an instrument called an endoscope. This is a long, thin, flexible tube that has a light source and camera at one end. Images of the inside of your body are relayed to a television screen. Endoscopes can be inserted into the body through a natural opening, such as the mouth and down the throat, or through the bottom.  The mouth route is more accurately called a Gastroscopy and the anal route is called a Colonoscopy (or a reduced version called a Sigmoidoscopy).  An endoscope can also be inserted through a small cut (incision) made in the skin when keyhole surgery is being carried out. Gastroscopy During a routine 6 monthly check-up at the end of 2016, I mentioned to…
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05Nov 2016 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments
Neuroendocrine Cancer – If you can see it, you can detect it!

Neuroendocrine Cancer – If you can see it, you can detect it!

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs
Scanning is a key diagnostic support and surveillance tool for any cancer.  Even though you have elevated bloods or urine (....or not), a picture of your insides is really like a thousand words.... and each picture has a story behind it.  Scanning can be a game changer in the hunt for tumours and although scans do not normally confirm the cancer type and grade, they certainly help with that piece of detective work and are key in the staging of the cancer. When I read stories of people in a difficult diagnosis, I always find myself saying 'a scan might resolve this' and I always suggest people should try to get one.  Even in the case of a story about late diagnosis or a misdiagnosis, I find myself thinking 'if only they had done a…
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