Gastrinoma Gastrin, Gastric Acid Overproduction Causes Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome Abdominal Pain

Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is marked by severe abdominal pain caused by gastrointestinal ulcers. These ulcers are caused by the overproduction of gastric acid. This acid excess is caused by an abundant secretion of gastrin. And gastrinoma is the reason for an inappropriate amount gastrin to be produced.

A gastrinoma is a gastrin secreting tumor that commonly occurs in your duodenum, but can develop in the pancreas. This type of tumor can be benign or cancerous, and it may spread to other organs, usually liver and nearby lymph nodes.

Gastrin is a hormone that regulates stomach acid secretion. It’s primarily produced by special cells in your stomach. Under normal healthy conditions, this hormone is discharged in the presence of food. It stimulates gastric acid emission, which is necessary for food digestion. And as the level of acidity increases, gastrin correspondingly decreases.

Since a gastrinoma releases abnormally high amounts of gastrin, the overproduction results in an excess of gastric acid. Too much acid eventually causes multiple sores to form, known as peptic ulcers. These in turn cause Zollinger-Ellison syndrome’s fundamental symptom of abdominal pain.

Zollinger-Ellison syndrome may cause other symptoms beyond your ceaseless gastrin originating stomach pain, like

The symptoms of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome mimic those of other ulcer causing diseases, but they’re more severe, persistent and difficult to control.

Gastrinomas may appear sporadically or be caused by an inherited genetic disorder called multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.  This disorder can cause a variety of hormone releasing tumors located in various gland, i.e. pituitary gland (prolactinomas), pancreas (insulinomas) and parathyroid.

Treatment of gastrin producing gastrinoma tumors is removal or chemotherapy for tumors if they’ve spread. For Zollinger-Ellison syndrome caused abdominal pain and ulcer symptoms proton pump inhibitors effectively depress gastric acid secretion, thus diminishing your ulcer caused pain.

More drastic treatment may be necessary. But even with early treatment the cure rate of gastrinoma is fairy low. However, gastrinomas that grow slowly may afford an opportunity to live much longer.

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