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.

Loss of bombesin-induced feeding suppression in gastrin-releasing peptide receptor-deficient mice.

The gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRP-R) is one of three members of the mammalian bombesin subfamily of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors that mediate diverse biological responses including secretion, neuromodulation, chemotaxis, and growth. The X chromosome-linked GRP-R gene is expressed widely during embryonic development and predominantly in gastrointestinal, neuronal, and neuroendocrine systems in the adult. Surprisingly, gene-targeted mice lacking a functional GRP-R gene develop and reproduce normally and show no gross phenotypic abnormalities.

Bone metastases in patients with gastrinomas: a prospective study of bone scanning, somatostatin receptor scanning, and magnetic resonance image in their detection, frequency, location, and effect of their detection on management.

Purpose: To determine whether bone scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) is best for identifying bone metastases in patients with gastrinomas, as well as their frequency and location, whether their detection affects management, and what patient subgroups should be examined.

Materials And Methods: One hundred fifteen patients with gastrinoma were prospectively studied. Patients were examined yearly and those with liver metastases were reexamined every 3 months.

Constitutive achlorhydria in mucolipidosis type IV.

Mucolipidosis type IV is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease of unknown etiology that causes severe neurological and ophthalmological abnormalities. In an attempt to obtain insight into the nature of the metabolic abnormality in this disorder, we prospectively evaluated 15 consecutive patients, aged 2 to 23 years, over a period of 22 months. The finding of iron deficiency in some of the patients led us to the discovery that all patients but one had markedly elevated blood gastrin levels.