The clinical diagnosis of the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

Recent clinical experiences with 34 Z-E patients indicates that the clinical features and course of the syndrome is less dramatic than described originally. Eighty-five per cent of the patients presented stories of abdominal complaints lasting more than five years and resembling the complaints presented by duodenal ulcer patients (DU). Ulcers were present in 91 per cent of the patients. Fifty-one per cent had either ectopic or multiple ulcers. One third had a single duodenal ulcer resembling an ordinary ulcer. No patients died from complications to the ulcer diathesis. Marked hypersecretion of acid and gastrin was present in the ZE group (BAO:33.7 +/- 7.4; PAO:62.8 +/- 6.1 meq H+/h; gastrin: 5094 pmol/l), but because of great individual variation in the ZE, some overlapping with the acid and gastrin measurements of the DU was seen. The diagnostic value of provocative tests using secretin, calcium, glucagon and food stimulations demonstrated a considerable overlapping between the two groups, indicating that these tests are of little clinical value. Tumours were found in half the patients, revealing malignancy in ten. The ZE can be diagnosed in most cases by combining symptomatology, with measurements of acid and gastrin.