Resection of gastrinoma in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

Gastroenterology. 1982 May;82(5 Pt 1):953-6.

Abstract

Patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome have been managed by total gastrectomy and more recently, by the use of H2-receptor antagonists. An alternative approach has been to identify those who might be cured by excision of a pancreatic islet-cell tumor without removal of the stomach. The course of such a patient is reported. A 40-yr-old man with massive gastric hypersecretion, acid-peptic disease, diarrhea, and elevated serum gastrin was treated by excising a pancreatic gastrinoma. Serum gastrin and gastric secretion became and have remained normal for 7 yr. Symptoms ceased and provocative tests with secretin and calcium have remained normal. Three additional patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome in whom pancreatic islet-cell tumor resection alone has resulted in long-term cures have been identified. All were middle-aged men with severe diarrhea. These successes, the availability of techniques that permit early identification and localization of gastrinomas, and the advent of H2-receptor antagonists that can control gastric hypersecretion without gastrectomy must be considered in managing patients with gastrinomas.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Gastrectomy
  • Gastrins / blood
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome / surgery*

Substances

  • Gastrins