Gastric acid hypersecretory states: recent insights and advances

Gastric acid hypersecretory states are characterized by basal hypersecretion of gastric acid and historically include disorders associated with hypergastrinemia, hyperhistaminemia, and those of unknown etiology. Although gastric acid secretion is infrequently measured, it is important to recognize the role of gastric hypersecretion in the symptoms of these disorders because they share several features of pathogenesis and treatment. In this article, recent important articles reporting insights into their diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, because it has the most extreme acid hypersecretion of this group of disorders and because numerous recent articles deal with various aspects of the diagnosis, molecular pathogenesis, and treatment of the gastrinoma itself or the acid hypersecretion. Two new hypersecretory disorders are reviewed: rebound acid hypersecretion after the use of proton pump inhibitors and acid hypersecretion with cysteamine treatment in children with cystinosis.