Plasma gastrin and secretin changes after esophagectomy.

Plasma gastrin levels were determined in 14 patients with esophageal cancer submitted to an esophagogastrectomy. Six patients were also given 0.1 N hydrochloric acid preoperatively and 1 month after operation to clarify the secretion of plasma secretin. In addition, the correlation between the G cell population in the pyloric part of the postoperative intrathoracic stomach and plasma gastrin was investigated, and the following results were obtained. Hypergastrinemia developed 1 month after surgery, but 3 months or more after surgery, the plasma gastrin level was close to normal. Plasma secretin levels tended to fall postoperatively, but no statistical differences in plasma secretin levels could be found. Staining by the enzyme antibody method revealed hyperplasia of G cells in patients with hypergastrinemia without pyloric antral atrophy.