A gastrin-producing adrenal tumor?

Abstract

A patient with intractable diarrhea was found to have hyperchlorhydria, hypergastrinemia, and an increase in serum gastrin in response to secretin. At surgery the pancreas was completely normal, and an 8-cm adrenal adenoma was removed. Postoperatively the diarrhea ceased, and serum gastrin and gastric acid levels returned to normal. Tissue gastrin levels in the adrenal tumor were 1,000 times the expected values. Circumstantial evidence suggests that this tumor may have been secreting gastrin.