Radioguided surgery for gastrinoma: a case report

Gastrinomas are the most common neuroendocrine tumors of the duodenopancreatic region. Surgical resection is the primary type of radical treatment.

At the Institute of General, Gastrointestinal and Breast Surgery we treated a patient with a duodenal gastrinoma that was diagnosed and localized by means of selective celiac-mesenteric angiography and labelled octreotide scintigraphy. Surgery was performed using a radioguided technique; in this way we easily detected the small tumor and discovered another tracer-uptaking lesion that turned out to be a metastatic lymph node.

Surgical resection is the ideal treatment for sporadic gastrinoma: it improves quality of life, prolongs survival, and reduces the incidence of metastases, with a modest percentage of complications and practically zero mortality. Meanwhile, medical treatment is being reevaluated, particularly in the case of metastatic disease or polyendocrine MEN1 syndrome. A fundamental aspect in the management of gastrinomas is tumor localization. Endoscopic ultrasonography and labeled octreotide scintigraphy (Ostreoscan) proved to be more effective than the usual imaging modalities. Intraoperative ultrasonography gastroscopy for duodenal transillumination and repeated measurement of blood gastrin levels should be performed intraoperatively in the surgical treatment of gastrinomas.

The clinical application of radioguided surgery for tracer-uptaking endocrine tumors is still controversial. In our case the decision to use this method was influenced by the fear that the patient's obesity and the effects of previous surgery could hamper the identification of the small tumor.