Definition of the role of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumor localization.

There are six major steps in the management of patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) (carcinoids and pancreatic endocrine tumors). One of the steps that is increasing in its importance is the need to assess primary tumor location and tumor extent in these patients. Without such information, it is not possible to adequately manage these patients.

Iron absorption in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome treated with long-term gastric acid antisecretory therapy.

Background: Gastric acid secretion is important for absorption of dietary non-haem iron, and iron deficiency is common in gastric hyposecretory states such as after gastric resection. It is not known if prolonged, continuous treatment with potent acid suppressants such as omeprazole will lead to iron deficiency or lower body iron stores.

Aim: To assess iron stores and the occurrence of iron deficiency anaemia in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) treated long-term with gastric antisecretory drugs.

Effect of long-term gastric acid suppressive therapy on serum vitamin B12 levels in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Background And Aims: Long-term treatment with H(+)-K(+)-adenotriphosphatase (ATPase) inhibitors, such as omeprazole or lansoprazole, for severe gastroesophageal reflux disease is now widely used. Whether such treatment will result in vitamin B12 deficiency is controversial. We studied whether long-term treatment with omeprazole alters serum vitamin B12 levels in patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Primary cardiac gastrinoma causing Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Primary cardiac tumors are rare, and there are no reports of patients with a functional gastroenteropancreatic tumor syndrome caused by such a tumor. This case report describes a patient with a cardiac gastrinoma causing Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Evidence is presented that this tumor represents a primary cardiac tumor.

Value of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy: a prospective study in gastrinoma of its effect on clinical management.

Background & Aims: Recently [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide was approved for somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) of gastroenteropancreatic tumors. SRS and other tumor localization methods can be time consuming, expensive, and involve patient inconvenience. The role of SRS in comparison to other tumor localization modalities remains undefined because the relative effects of these methods on management have not been studied.

Management of the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome in pregnancy.

Objective: There is almost no information on the management of patients with functional pancreatic endocrine tumors such as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to develop an approach for the management of such cases during pregnancy on the basis of experience with five recent cases.

Study Design: Five women with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome who had seven pregnancies were the subject of this study.

Distinguishing small hepatic hemangiomas from vascular liver metastases in gastrinoma: use of a somatostatin-receptor scintigraphic agent.

Purpose: To compare somatostatin-receptor scintigraphy and conventional imaging modalities in the differentiation of small hepatic hemangiomas from small liver metastases in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-nine patients had hypervascular liver lesions smaller than 2 cm that could have been either metastases or hemangiomas. Fourteen patients had metastases, 14 had hemangiomas, and one had both.

Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy: its sensitivity compared with that of other imaging methods in detecting primary and metastatic gastrinomas. A prospective study.

Objective: To compare the sensitivity of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy done using [111In-DTPA-DPhe1]octreotide with that of other imaging methods in the localization of gastrinomas in patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Referral-based clinical research center.

A prospective study of the effectiveness of low dose omeprazole as initial therapy in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Background: The proton pump inhibitors (omeprazole and lansoprazole) are the drugs of choice for the medical management of gastric acid hypersecretion in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES). These drugs are safe for long-term therapy but are acid-labile and high doses are expensive. The recommended starting dose of omeprazole is 60 mg/day.

Metastatic gastrinomas: localization with selective arterial injection of secretin.

Purpose: To evaluate localization of hepatic metastases with the intraarterial secretin injection test in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES).

Materials And Methods: Results in 74 patients with ZES (aged 15-70 years) were retrospectively studied. All patients had undergone computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, ultrasound, abdominal angiography, and an intraarterial secretin test, in which venous blood is sampled periodically after injection of secretin.

Intestinal spirochetosis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: ultrastructural studies of two cases.

Two cases of intestinal spirochetosis (IS) with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are reported. In case 1, a 48-year-old homosexual black man presented with a 1-month history of alternating watery diarrhea and constipation, which dissipated following the removal of two colonic hyperplastic polyps containing IS. In case 2, a 26-year-old homosexual black man presented with a 3-month history of persistent bloody diarrhea and was found to have chronic shigellosis and IS.

Insulin-like growth factor I receptors in the arteries of the rabbit: autoradiographic mapping and receptor characterization.

Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is a polypeptide hormone structurally related to insulin with insulin-like metabolic effects. It is a potent mitogen, eliciting cell multiplication in tissue culture by increasing deoxyribonucleic acid and protein synthesis. IGF-I was found to promote the growth of cultured arterial smooth muscle cells.

Insulinlike growth factor I receptors in rabbit gastrointestinal tract. Characterization and autoradiographic localization.

Insulinlike growth factor I is a potent mitogen with insulinlike metabolic effects. Insulinlike growth factor I is synthesized in the liver, intestine, and other organs. Insulinlike growth factor I receptors are widely distributed and structurally similar to insulin receptors.

Distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide and its receptors in the arteries of the rabbit.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a widely distributed neurotransmitter whose dilatory effects on vascular smooth muscle are believed to be mediated via specific receptors. To determine the possible role of VIP in regulating specific vascular beds, we examined the relationship between arterial wall VIP content as determined by radioimmunoassay and VIP receptors mapped by autoradiography. Analysis of arteries from 12 adult New Zealand rabbits showed that VIP receptors were consistently located in the wall of all muscular arteries, and that the 125I-VIP grain density correlated with VIP content.