Conservative management of the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Ectopic gastrin production by an ovarian cystadenoma.

Techniques for evaluating ectopic gastrin production associated with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome are described. The site of gastrin production in this example was a mucinous cystadenoma of the ovary confirmed by immunoperoxidase localization of gastrin within the ovarian tumor cells and by radioimmunoassay of the tumor's gastrin content. These methods, localizing the source of ectopic gastrin, permitted conservative management of the ulcer diathesis with surgical resection of the mucinous cystadenoma. After oophorectomy the patient's serum gastrin level returned to normal, and the ulcer diathesis ceased.