[Endocrine active pancreatic neoplasms]

The tumor-forming endocrine cells of the pancreas belong to the APUD system. These cells are of neuroectodermal origin. The tumor can be diagnosed in most cases by a distinct clinical picture, and the diagnosis can be veryfied by direct hormone determination or/and by the biochemical disorders caused by the hormones. For localisation angiography, szintigrams, endoscopic pancreatography, and sonograms were used up to now without convincing results in many cases; computerized tomography promises to be the decisive examination in the future. Three hormones can, up to now, not yet be correlated with a distinct clinical picture specific for a pancreatic tumor. On the other hand, four tumors are responsible for a very typical clinical entity, the insulinoma, the glucagonoma, the gastrinoma, and the vipoma, as illustrated by our own cases. The surgical therapy consists mainly in enucleation of an adenoma or in partial pancreatic resection. Total pancreatectomy is indicated only in few cases. The Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is treated best by total gastrectomy. Malignant tumors are sensible to streptozotozin.