Serum gastrin levels in patients with renal failure on maintenance haemodialysis and after successful kidney transplantation.

Chronic renal failure in man is associated with a hypergastrinaemia which is not corrected by haemodialysis. Serum gastrin concentrations were measured in 66 patients on maintenance haemodialysis and in 27 patients after successful kidney transplantation. The basal gastrin levels distinguished 2 groups of patients on maintenance haemodialysis: a first group with gastrin values less than or equal to 120 pg/ml (mean 58+/-29.88 pg/ml) and a second group with gastrin values greater than 120 pg/ml (mean 295+/-257 pg/ml). The onset of urine output after kidney transplantation was associated with a dramatic fall in gastrin concentration (3 patients studied in the early post-transplant period). 24 patients with stabilized transplant function had serum gastrin levels less than 120 pg/ml (mean 21.33+/- 17.29 pg/ml). The gastrin response to a standard protein meal depended on the basal gastrin concentration and was different in patients with renal failure on maintenance haemodialysis and those with a successful kidney transplantation.