[Clinicopathological study on gastrinoma].

OBJECTIVE

To improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of gastrinoma.

METHODS

Twelve cases of gastrinoma found in the recent 30 years in our hospital were analyzed.

RESULTS

The results indicated that in addition to the typical symptoms related to gastric acid overproduction, the frequency of certain uncommon features characteristic of the disease was unusually high in our hands i.e., (1) The majority of them (7/12) had serious diarrhea, even resulting in shock. (2) Multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN) was in 3 out of 12 associated in our series. (3) Multiple nodules in the duodenum (3/12) were found and in two patients were shown to be submucosal gastrinoma confirmed by pathology. (4) Multifocal lesions were found in 9 out of 12 patients, and in 7 cases at least two organs were involved. Most gastrinomas were located in the pancreas, stomach and duodenum. (5) As reported by other authors, multiple hormone secretion was common: in five of six patients the tumor secreted more than two hormones. (6) In some cases, tumors were sensitive to chemotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS

In our series gastrinoma was found with the feature of multiple lesions and multiple hormone secretion in addition to the typical symptoms related to gastric acid overproduction.