Gastrin Bioassay in the Diagnosis of the Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome

Abstract

The association between non β-cell tumours of the pancreas and severe, often atypical, peptic ulcer disease, was first recognised by Zollinger and Ellison in 1955 (1). Although the co-existence of peptic ulcer disease and islet cell tumours of the pancreas had been described previously by other workers (2, 3, 4), Zollinger and Ellison were the first to suggest a causal relationship between the two to put forward the concept that a powerful gastric secretagogue, produced by the pancreatic tumour, was responsible for the gastric hypersecretion and, in turn, for the severe ulcer diathesis. Regarded at first as a medical curiosity, the recognition of increasing numbers of such cases led to the term ‘Zollinger-Ellison syndrome’ being applied to this group of patients and over 600 cases have now been reported.