Serum gastrin levels and lower oesophageal sphincter pressures in infants with congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

Serum gastrin levels in 16 patients with congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (CHPS) were measured and oesophageal manometric studies were performed in 14 of these 16 patients before and after pyloromyotomy. Hypergastrinaemia was found in the patients with CHPS, and the 7th postoperative serum gastrin level was much higher than the preoperative pressure. However, there was no significant correlation between the LES pressure change and the serum gastrin change. These results indicate that competence of LES after pyloromyotomy in patients with CHPS is maintained not only by endogenous gastrin rise but also by other factors.