Primary gastrin cell hyperplasia. Report of five cases and a review of the literature.

Primary gastrin cell hyperfunction of the gastric antrum as a clinical syndrome consists of basal hypergastrinemia, an exaggerated gastrin response to feeding, the absence of any ectopic source of gastrin secretion, and peptic ulcer disease. The number of G-cells were quantitated in the gastric antrum of five patients with clinically diagnosed primary G-cell hyperfunction, and the results were compared to controls with a variety of gastric diseases. Patients with the clinical diagnosis of primary G-cell hyperfunction had a significantly increased number of antral G-cells (p less than 0.05). The clinical syndrome of primary G-cell hyperplasia appears to be associated with hyperplasia of G-cells rather than with the hypersecretion of gastrin by a normal number of G-cells.