Patient's question:
Severe nausea and vomiting, I thought it was food poisoning and diarrhea, so I went to a pharmacy to buy some anti-diarrheal medication. After taking it, there was no improvement. Today, I went to the hospital for a thorough examination and was kept there all day. The doctor said it could be a gastrinoma. He asked me to come back tomorrow for further diagnosis, but I don’t know what this condition is.What assistance I need: What is a gastrinoma? What causes gastrinoma?
Doctor's answer:
Gastrinoma is a non-β islet cell tumor of the pancreas that produces excessive amounts of gastrin, causing increased gastric juice secretion and leading to severe, persistent peptic ulcers. Gastrinomas are typically treated with surgery. Gastrinomas are often hereditary or hidden, and they may not be detected during surgery. In the past, superficial tumors were treated with simple tumor resection; deep tumors were managed with pancreatic body and tail resection or pancreaticoduodenectomy; and when the tumor could not be found, a blind pancreatic body and tail resection was performed, often resulting in symptom recurrence postoperatively.