Pancreatic vein catheterization with gastrin assay in normal patients and in patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

How to treat gastrinomas in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type1: surgery or long-term proton pump inhibitors?

In patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 syndrome (MEN 1) and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES), gastrinomas arise from the duodenum, about 60% are multiple, and about 15% of patients have coexisting pancreatic gastrinomas, which can be localized by the selective arterial secretagogue injection test (SASI test). The guidelines (GLs) by the Japanese Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (JNETS) recommend surgical resection for functioning duodenopancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), including gastrinomas, in patients with MEN1 (Grade A, 100% agreement among members). Conversely, the GLs of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) in the USA recommend observation and treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or exploratory surgery for occult gastrinomas. An international Consensus Statement (ICS) from the European Union (EU) also does not recommend resection of gastrinomas in patients with MEN1, despite some surgeons having reported surgery being curative for gastrinomas in MEN1 patients. In this review, we discuss the serious side effects and tumorigenic effects of the prolonged use of PPIs and the safety and curability of surgery, supported by our results of curative surgery for gastrinomas in 20 patients with MEN1 over 30 years. We conclude that surgery should be the first-line treatment for gastrinomas in MEN1 patients.

Clinicopathological characteristics of duodenal microgastrinomas

Duodenal gastrinomas do not seem to behave as malignantly as sporadic pancreatic gastrinomas. Statistical analysis of 49 patients with sporadic pancreatic gastrinoma and 21 patients with sporadic duodenal gastrinoma reported since 1980 in Japan revealed that the incidence of hepatic metastasis was 57% in patients with sporadic pancreatic gastrinoma and only 9% in patients with sporadic duodenal gastrinoma (p less than 0.01). These findings suggest that there is an essential biological differences between duodenal and pancreatic gastrinoma. Five patients with sporadic duodenal microgastrinoma (tumor diameter less than 5mm) in our hospital had no hepatic metastases; however, 4 patients had lymph node metastases. Immunohistochemical study of 5 sporadic duodenal microgastrinomas and 6 sporadic pancreatic gastrinomas revealed that the sporadic duodenal gastrinomas contained significantly fewer insulin-producing or glucagon-producing cells than sporadic pancreatic gastrinomas. The cellular composition of the metastatic lymph nodes from duodenal microgastrinomas was similar to that of the primary tumor. This difference in cellular composition between the duodenal microgastrinomas and the pancreatic gastrinomas suggests that the process of development and differentiation of gastrinoma cells is different.

Curative resection in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Results of a 10-year prospective study

Since 1980, 73 patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) without radiographic evidence of liver metastases were studied on a prospective protocol including medical management of gastric acid hypersecretion, extensive radiographic tumor localization, and exploratory surgery to find and resect gastrinoma for potential cure. Each patient had gastric acid hypersecretion effectively controlled with either H2-blockers or omeprazole. Patients were divided prospectively into two groups, with all patients undergoing the same preoperative localization studies and extensive laparotomy. In contrast to group 1 (1980-1986) (36 patients), group 2 (1987-Oct. 1990) (37 patients) also underwent additional procedures (transillumination and duodenotomy) at surgery to find duodenal gastrinomas. Preoperative imaging studies localized tumor in 38 (52%) patients, and portal venous sampling for gastrin determinations was positive in 49 (67%) patients. Gastrinomas were found and resected in 57 (78%) patients. Significantly more gastrinomas (92% of patients) were found in group 2 than in group 1 patients (64%) (p less than 0.01). This increase was due to increased numbers of duodenal gastrinomas in group 2 than in group 1 patients (43% versus 11%; p less than 0.01). The increased ability to find duodenal gastrinomas did not significantly improve the immediate disease-free rate, which was 58% for all patients. Duodenal primary gastrinomas were found to have a significantly greater incidence of metastases (55%) and a significantly shorter disease-free interval (12 months) than pancreatic gastrinomas (22% and 84 months, respectively) suggesting that duodenal gastrinomas may be more malignant and not more frequently curable than pancreatic gastrinomas. Operations were performed with no deaths and 11% morbidity rate. Long-term follow-up showed that 50% of patients initially rendered disease free would develop recurrent disease by 5 years. Survival was excellent for all patients, and none died of malignant spread of the tumor or uncontrolled peptic ulcer disease, with a mean follow-up of 5 years. This finding is in contrast to patients who presented with metastatic disease on imaging studies and had a 20% 5-year survival rate. This study suggests that all patients with localized sporadic ZES can have the gastric acid hypersecretion managed medically, that overall survival of these patients is excellent, most (78%) can have all gastrinoma found and resected, and some (30%) will be cured (long-term disease-free survival).

Unresolved surgical issues in the management of patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

In the last 10 years, there have been a number of major advances that have markedly changed the management of patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. These advances have been described recently in a number of excellent reviews. After reading each of these reviews, including our own, one is left generally with the impression that most of the important problems and particularly those involving surgery in the treatment of this disease have been resolved; however, in considering the possible problems to address in protocols in the coming years in our patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome followed at the National Institutes of Health, it became apparent to us that not only will surgery play an increasingly important role in the management of this disease, but that there are a number of major questions in which various aspects involving surgery are not resolved. Furthermore, resolution of a number of these areas will have applicability to the surgical treatment of other islet cell tumors. The purpose of this article is to call attention to these questions with the hope that other investigators may also consider these and specifically attempt to address some of these issues in the surgical treatment of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome in prospective studies.

Gastrinomas: a 42-year experience

In 1947, a patient with metastatic islet cell tumor was treated for intractable ulcer disease at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Eight years later, in retrospect, it was recognized that he and another patient had the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZE). From 1947 until the present, 30 patients with the ZE syndrome have been treated at this institution. Twenty-one (70%) were male and 9 (30%) were female. Their ages ranged from 24 to 76 years. Most (79%) had abdominal pain, however, melena (42%), hematemesis (33%), and severe diarrhea (35%) were prominent as well. Symptoms were present for a mean of 5.8 years before diagnosis. Over their entire clinical course, duodenal ulcers occurred in 96% of patients, gastric ulcers in 24%, jejunal ulcers in 29%, esophageal ulcers in 6%, and stomal ulcerations in 58%. Eleven (38%) of all gastrinomas were proved to occur in the duodenum; 10 (34%) were pancreatic in origin, including 3 with the MEN I syndrome; 3 (10%) were extrapancreatic and extraduodenal in origin, and no tumor was found in 5 (17%). Each of the 3 patients with MEN I developed a proven pancreatic islet cell carcinoma with metastases as well as hyperparathyroidism and a pituitary lesion. Of 27 patients who were explored for gastrinoma, tumor was found in 20 (74%). Excluding patients with MEN who had multiple lesions throughout the pancreas, all tumors were found in the "gastrinoma triangle." Total gastrectomy was performed in 10 (37%) of 27 of all patients who were explored, in 5 (71%) of 7 when no tumor was found, and in only 5 (25%) of 20 when tumor was present. Operative mortality was 15% (4 of 27) but no death has occurred since 1974. Long-term survival has followed both tumor resection or total gastrectomy in selected individuals (including 1 patient with known multiple liver metastases who is alive 18 years after liver biopsy and total gastrectomy); however, since malignant gastrinomas were present in 46% of all patients (or 57% in whom tumor was found) and since local metastases can sometimes be removed, we favor an aggressive approach to localization and resection when liver metastases or other distant metastases are not found. Duodenal gastrinomas are particularly favorable for resection for cure. They were malignant in only 36% and their metastases were nodal in each of 4 cases. The major problem is finding them since they are often small and "occult."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Current diagnosis and management of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

The treatment of patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) has undergone dramatic evolution during the past decade. Although initially regarded as an incurable tumor, resection of gastrinoma for potential cure has been reported in 30% to 40% of selected patients in recent series. Conversely, although definitive control of acid hypersecretion is achieved by total gastrectomy, histamine (H2)-receptor antagonists and the newly introduced agents omeprazole and somatostatin analogues allow effective medical therapy of gastric acid overproduction. Confirmation of the diagnosis is best achieved with the I.V. secretin stimulation test, and tumor localization techniques are mandatory to identify candidates for operative tumor resection. Intraoperative sonography and careful exploration are required for tumor removal; successful tumor resection is associated with prolonged survival. The majority of patients (60%) are still found to have malignant disease at the time of diagnosis, but 10-year overall survival commonly exceeds 40%. The presence of multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN-I) is seen in 10% to 25% of patients; correction of hypercalcemia alone may have therapeutic benefit in some ZES patients, and while gastrinoma resection is rarely possible, MEN-I patients demonstrate prolonged survival. The choice of medical rather than surgical therapy for acid hypersecretion depends on the suitability of each patient for careful and repeated endoscopic and chemical studies, versus the likelihood of a successful postoperative outcome. Socioeconomic, geographic, and related medical factors in each case may dictate the form of long-term antisecretory therapy. Exploration for possible tumor resection is indicated for virtually all patients who have no documented metastatic disease.

Microgastrinomas of the duodenum. A cause of failed operations for the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

Gastrinomas are now being detected at an earlier stage than was formerly the case. Furthermore, with the ability to control acid secretion, emphasis has been placed on identifying gastrinoma patients who are potentially curable by tumor resection rather than by palliative gastrectomy. Despites estimates suggesting that 20-40% of sporadic gastrinoma patients can be successfully resected for cure, as many as 40% of such patients have occult tumors that elude detection. In an effort to better localize gastrinomas, we have used percutaneous transhepatic venous (THVS) gastrin sampling over the past 10 years. From 1978 to 1988, THVS was used in 46 patients in whom there was no other evidence of metastatic gastrinoma by conventional studies. Gastrinomas were found at operation in all but one patient. The purpose of this report is to emphasize that occult tumors are most often found in the duodenal wall, and frequently they may be no greater than 2 mm in diameter. Five recent cases illustrate that these small tumors or microgastrinomas may be the sole source of hypergastrinemia and can be cured by local excision. These recent cases emphasize that microgastrinomas are not usually palpable through the duodenal wall. They may be detected only after duodenotomy and meticulous evaluation of the mucosa by eversion and direct palpation. Duodenotomy and intraluminal exploration should be considered an essential component of the operation for patients with extrapancreatic gastrinomas.

Usefulness of selective arterial secretin injection test for localization of gastrinoma in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

Secretin was injected into a feeding or nonfeeding artery of a gastrinoma and blood samples were taken from the hepatic vein (HV) or a peripheral artery (PA) to measure the changes of serum immunoreactive gastrin concentration (IRG). The IRG in the HV rose within 40 seconds and in the PA rose within 60 seconds after the injection of secretin into a feeding artery, but not after secretin was injected into a nonfeeder. These results indicated that secretin directly stimulates a gastrinoma to release gastrin in vivo. The selective arterial secretin injection test (SASI test) was applied in three patients in whom gastrinomas could not be located by computed tomography, ultrasonography, or arteriography, and functioning gastrinomas were located in all three patients. In one patient, malignant gastrinomas in the head of the pancreas and in the duodenum could be resected radically with the help of this test.

Prospective study of gastrinoma localization and resection in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

In 1982, a prospective study was initiated of 52 consecutive patients with proven Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES), involving surgical exploration with the goal of removing the gastrinoma after an extensive protocol to localize the tumor. Each patient underwent ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) with oral/intravenous (IV) contrast, and selective arteriography. Eighteen patients had metastatic disease identified by imaging studies and confirmed by percutaneous biopsies, and two patients had multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN-I) with negative imaging studies; therefore, these 20 patients did not undergo laparotomy. Each of the remaining 32 patients (3 with MEN-I and positive imaging studies) underwent laparotomy, and gastrinomas were removed in 20 patients. Preoperative ultrasound localized tumors in 20% of patients, CT in 40%, arteriography in 60%, and any of the modalities in 70% of patients. Infusion CT and arteriography were 100% specific. In 18 patients with either negative imaging (17) or false-positive imaging (1 ultrasound), gastrinomas were found and removed in six patients (33%). Twenty-four gastrinomas were found in 20 patients at laparotomy: eight in lymph nodes around the pancreatic head, four in the pancreatic head, one in the pancreatic body, three in the pancreatic tail, three in the pyloric channel, one in the duodenal wall, two in the jejunum at the ligament of Treitz, one in the ovary, and multiple liver metastases in one patient. If one excludes patients with MEN-I or liver metastatic disease, 12/28 (43%) of patients were biochemically "cured" immediately after operation. This result decreased to 7/23 (30%) with greater than 6 months follow-up. No patients with gastrinomas resected have developed recurrent gastrinoma on follow-up imaging studies (longest follow-up: 4 years). This study indicates that 95% of metastatic gastrinoma can be diagnosed before operation and that, by a combination of careful imaging studies and thorough exploration at surgery, 30% of patients with gastrinomas may be curable.

Gastrinoma

Although there are multiple etiologies of clinical hypergastrinemia, the most important cause is gastrinoma [Zollinger-Ellison (ZE) syndrome]. The most significant advance in the management of patients with the ZE syndrome has been the development of the ability to establish firmly the correct preoperative diagnosis by radioimmunoassay. We believe that all patients who have the ZE syndrome should undergo operation for two reasons: to identify and resect all tumor and because in patients in whom no tumor is found or in whom all tumor cannot be resected, the most reliable relief of hypersecretory symptoms for the life of the patient can be achieved by total gastrectomy.

A new rapid gastrin radioimmunoassay

A 45-min gastrin assay with a minimum detection limit of 50 pg/ml plasma has been developed which makes use of delayed addition of labeled tracer. The precision of the rapid assay compares favorably with standard methods for measurement of plasma gastrin concentrations in excess of 100 pg/ml. The rapid method can be used for emergency preoperative diagnosis of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and as an aid in localizing gastrinomas before or during surgery.

A case of pancreatitis associated with gastrinoma

A case is presented of a 56 year old man with a history of idiopathic pancreatitis and multiple admissions for Klebsiella sepsis from an intra-abdominal focus, who in February 1980, developed spontaneous jejunal perforations on two occasions due to multiple ulcers in the small intestine associated with multiple hepatic metastases from a gastrin-secreting islet-cell tumor (gastrinoma) of the pancreas. On searching the literature, no other record could be found of an association between pancreatitis and a gastrinoma, although in this patient the two disease processes appear to be inextricably related.

The role of surgery in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

When the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome was first identified, total gastrectomy was proposed as the most effective treatment for the secretory manifestations of the syndrome. Recently, however, great enthusiasm has developed for medical treatment by means of H2-receptor antagonists. The authors have cared for 27 patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome at The University of Texas Medical Branch in the past 12 years and have been pleased with the results of total gastrectomy, which was performed in 23 of the 27 patients (one patient refused operation and three patients had lesser gastric operations). Twenty-three patients underwent total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy. There were no operative deaths. Primary tumors were found in 17 patients, seven of whom also had metastatic tumors. No tumors were found in nine patients. Nine patients are dead; the actuarial survival rate for all patients was 75% at 5 years and 52% at 10 years. Eleven of the 27 patients had the multiple endocrine neoplasia I syndrome. Of the 18 survivors, only three have normal serum gastrin levels, and all three had extrapancreatic gastrinomas, one in peripancreatic lymph nodes, one in the liver, and one in a cystic tumor attached to the stomach. Nutritional results were good to excellent, with a mean postoperative weight loss of 14.7% (mean follow-up period was 45 months). The authors conclude that treatment of the hypersecretory problems of the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome by total gastrectomy is safe and dependable. Results compare well with those of long-term medical management, whose success is dependent upon serial favorable responses to a lifetime of repeated challenges.

The early diagnosis of gastrinoma

Despite the increasing awareness of gastrinoma and its lethal peptic ulcer sequelae, the diagnosis is often initially missed or made as a terminal event. The authors screened all patients with peptic ulcer symptoms serious enough to warrant hospital admission or those associated with diarrhea, nephrolithiasis, hypercalcemia, or pituitary abnormality. In a one-year period (1979-1980) nine (of 14 suspected) new gastrinoma patients were identified using a sensitive and specific gastrin radioimmunoassay in combination with provocative tests including IV secretin, calcium, and food. Conventional upper GI series, CAT scan, arteriography, and endoscopy provided no additional information other than to confirm the presence of ulcer disease. Basal plasma gastrin levels were more than 200 pmol L-1 in only three of the nine (normal fasting plasma gastrin levels are less than 25 pmol L-1). Three patients presented with acute ulcer perforation, and the diagnosis of gastrinoma was suspected because of multiple ulcers and pancreatic masses. In three other patients, previous duodenal ulcer surgery had failed. One patient with dyspepsia, high basal plasma gastrin, negative secretin and calcium infusion studies, and a positive meal test was diagnosed as having G-cell hyperplasia; this was confirmed by biopsy and antral gastrin extraction. Antrectomy alone resulted in cure. In all patients tested, a positive calcium infusion or secretin bolus (greater than 100% rise over basal) strongly suggested the diagnosis of gastrinoma, which was confirmed at surgery. In the acute perforations, initial management with omental patch and cimetidine therapy allowed survival of two patients, while emergency total gastrectomy in the third resulted in death due to esophagojejunal leak. Elective patients were treated with cimetidine initially for at least two weeks before total gastrectomy. In this group there were no operative mortalities, and postoperative morbidity was minimal. This series illustrates three important points: (1) careful screening of an ulcer population using gastrin radioimmunoassay and provocative tests has enabled a high yield of gastrinomas while conventional investigations are of minimal values; (2) a high index of suspicion in appropriate cases is necessary; and (3) total gastrectomy performed under elective circumstances is safe and allows the patients to resume a normal and healthy life without the sequelae of aggressive peptic ulceration or daily drug administration.

The role of surgery in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) managed medically

From 1975 to 1981, the authors' deliberate intent was to treat all patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) medically. This allowed the authors to ask the question of the need for surgical intervention in patients managed medically. Twenty-six patients followed for an average of 37 months (range 2 to 147 months) from diagnosis were maintained on cimetidine for a mean of 32 months (2 to 64 months). Six of these patients (23%) were unable to be maintained on cimetidine and required surgery during this period. Four received total gastrectomy, and two had lesser operations. Analysis of survival curves in this small group does not illustrate a difference between outcome based on surgical or medical management. Prospective studies based on aggressive attempts at preoperative localization with staging laparotomy and tumor resection seem justified.

Treatment of the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. A 25 year assessment

An assessment of treatment methods for the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome over 25 years suggests that the dual surgical approach of excision of resectable tumor and total gastrectomy provides the greatest possibility of attaining tumor and serum gastrin control. Normal serum gastrin levels and reduction of tumor status, not observed with nonoperative management, were attained by surgical treatment, particularly when the tumor (or hyperplasia) was limited to the pancreas, stomach, duodenum and regional lymph nodes. Eleven of 16 such operations resulted in tumor control, and 10 of these patients developed normal serum gastrin concentrations. In elective clinical situations combined medical and surgical therapy is a rational approach allowing confirmation of diagnosis and safe, definitive surgical control of the syndrome before metastases occur.

Diagnosis of endocrine gastrointestinal tumours

In 32 patients with endocrine gastrointestinal tumours angiography, CT, ultrasound examination, and in some cases phlebography with blood sampling for hormone analyses were compared with respect to diagnosis of the primary tumour and possibly existing liver metastases. Primary tumours in the pancreas and liver metastases could be diagnosed with CT and ultrasound, except for two small insulinomas, which required angiography.

Gastrointestinal/pancreatic hormone concentrations in the portal venous system of nine patients with organic hyperinsulinism

Percutaneous transhepatic sampling of blood in the portal venous system (TPVS) was used to; (1) localize hormone secreting tumors and help in differentiating tumors from diffuse disease (nesideoblastosis and hyperplasia with adenomata) in 9 patients with fasting hypoglycemia and hyperinsulinism, and (2) study the concentration an distribution of the immunoreactive peptides: insulin (IRI), gastrin (IG), glucagon (IRG), pancreatic polypeptide (hPP), and somatostatin (SRIF-LI), in the venous drainage of the uninvolved portion of the pancreas and GI tract. Localized elevations of IRI (64-920 microunits/ml) predicted tumor localization in 6 patients with single tumors that were not demonstrable angiographically. In one patient with nesideoblastosis and another with islet cell hyperplasia with adenoma, elevated IRI concentrations at multiple locations suggested a diffuse or multicentric process. Elevations of SRIF-LI in the same region as IRI elevations in one patient and of IRG in another patient suggested that these tumor produced two hormones. Some problems in the interpretation of portal venous insulin concentrations are discussed. The locations of maximum portal venous system plasma concentrations and portal-arterial gradients (mean +/- SE pg/ml) in five patients with small single insulinomas were: IG, gastrocolic trunk (126 +/- 27, 46 +/- 22); IRG, proximal splenic vein (130 +/- 30, 47 +/- 13) and gastrocolic trunk (131 +/- 23, 60 +/- 13); hPP, portal vein (164 +/- 48, 49 +/- 22); SRIF-LI, superior mesenteric vein (186 +/- 50, 57 +/- 20) and gastrocolic trunk (178 +/- 59, 55 +/- 21). It is concluded; (1) TPVS can be used successfully to localize single insulin-secreting tumors of the pancreas and to help distinguish them from diffuse disease but problems in such differentiation do occur, (2) circulating SRIF-LI and IRG are derived from both the pancreas and the gut, IG predominantly from the proximal gut and hPP from the head of the pancreas, and (3) The data provide new information for the interpretation of portal insulin concentrations in patients with organic hyperinsulinism and of hormone concentrations for localization of peptide-producing tumors of the pancreas other than insulinomas.

Pseudo-Zollinger-Ellison syndrome: hypergastrinemia, hyperchlorhydria without tumor

The purpose of the investigation was to detect ulcer patients having nontumorous hypergastrinemic hyperchlorhydria and to diagnostically differentiate this pseudo-Zollinger-Ellison syndrome from neurogenic duodenal ulcer disease and pancreatic gastrinomas. Nine patients having clinical, radiologic and humoral findings simulating the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome or severe duodenal ulcer disease were studied by physiologic provocative testing. The patients, not having pancreaticoduodenal gastrinomas, had an antral mucosal source of their moderate hypergastrinemia even after vagotomy with drainage, which was eliminated in eight patients treated by surgical antrectomy, resulting in normal serum gastrin concentrations. The pseudo-Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is, thus, characterized physiologically by an exaggerated gastrin response to meals, no response to secretin stimulation and pathologically by hyperfunctioning hyperplastic G cells of the antrum. The clinical, physiologic, pathologic and surgical features were integrated for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Selective vein catheterization for hormone assay in endocrine tumours of the pancreas. Technique and results

Based on 45 examinations the technique of selective catheterization of the pancreatic veins for blood sampling using percutaneous transhepatic approach to the portal vein is described. The results are compared with the angiographic findings in 16 patients with islet cell tumours of islet cell hyperplasia.

Pancreatic apudomas

Pancreatic apudomas are not common but are frequently curable. Thus, it is important for every clinician to be fully aware of the varied clinical syndromes that suggest their presence. The availability of specific radioimmunoassays has made confirmation of the diagnosis relatively simple. Advances in the techniques for staining the different cell types have led to the recognition that many of these tumors are mixed, and that the general term "pancreatic apudoma" is appropriate. Pancreatic endocrine tumors, as examples to "nature's experiments," have yielded considerable insight into the possible physiologic effects of the various peptides they produce. It is to be hoped that further study of tumors such as the somatostatinoma and PPoma may yield further information about these enigmatic compounds.

The Zollinger-Ellison syndrome--23 years later

The effects of recent diagnostic and therapeutic advances were assessed in 65 patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES). Twenty-seven patients seen between 1955 and 1970 were compared with 38 patients seen between 1971 and 1977. The earlier patients had a higher incidence of virulent ulcer disease (56% vs. 24%), other endocrinopathies (48% vs. 13%), and malignant gastrinoma (44% vs. 25%). Earlier diagnosis is the result of liberal use of serum gastrin measurements and provocative tests for gastrin release (calcium and secretin), and an increased awareness of this syndrome. Because their basal gastrin values were in a range that overlapped ordinary ulcer disease, 47% of patients encountered in recent years required provocative testing with secretin for diagnosis. If the gastrin concentration falls to normal following resection of a gastrinoma, the tumor has probably been completely removed. In our patients, gastrin measurements after total gastrectomy had no prognostic significance in regards to clinical progression or regression of the neoplasm. Of 12 patients treated with cimetidine, nine experienced symptomatic improvement, and three did not. Resection of the gastrinoma should be attempted if the lesion is solitary and located in the body or tail of the pancreas, or if it is an isolated duodenal lesion. Otherwise, total gastrectomy remains the treatment of choice. In 38 patients, total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy was followed by 97% survival and minimal difficulties with nutrition or dumping.