Case Report
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World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Apr 15, 2011; 2(2): 26-30
Published online Apr 15, 2011. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v2.i2.26
Primary hepatic gastrinoma: Report of a case and review of literature
Konstantinos Tsalis, Georgios Vrakas, Stergios Vradelis, Abraham Dimoulas, Maria Pilavaki, Stiliani Papaemmanouil, Anastasia Micheli, Charalampos Lazarides, Georgios Kartalis
Konstantinos Tsalis, Georgios Vrakas, Abraham Dimoulas, Charalampos Lazarides, Fourth Surgical Department, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki 57010, Greece
Stergios Vradelis, Anastasia Micheli, Georgios Kartalis, First Department of Internal Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis 68100, Greece
Maria Pilavaki, Radiology Department, ‘G. Papanikolaou’ Hospital, Thessaloniki 57010, Greece
Stiliani Papaemmanouil, Pathology Department, ‘G. Papanikolaou’ Hospital, Thessaloniki 57010, Greece
Author contributions: Tsalis K and Vrakas G contributed equally to this manuscript; Tsalis K and Vrakas G designed and performed research; Vradelis S, Dimoulas A, Pilavaki M, Papaemmanouil S, Micheli A, Lazarides C and Kartalis G performed research and revised the final manuscript; Tsalis K and Vrakas G wrote the manuscript; Papaemmanouil S made the pathology report; and Tsalis K, Vrakas G and Dimoulas A performed the operation.
Correspondence to: Georgios Vrakas, MD, Fourth Surgical Department, Aristotle University, 28 Pr. Koromila Str, Thessaloniki 54622, Greece. georgiosvrakas@gmail.com
Telephone: +30-6942712001
Received: October 12, 2010
Revised: March 1, 2011
Accepted: March 8, 2011
Published online: April 15, 2011
Abstract

Primary hepatic gastrinoma is a very rare ectopic gastrinoma with less than 20 cases reported worldwide. We report the case of a patient with hypergastrinemia who was subjected to exhaustive preoperative and intraoperative imaging and also careful surgical exploration of the duodenum and pancreas which failed initially to identify the primary tumour. Eventually the patient was subjected to left liver lobectomy, as a small palpable lesion was noted intraoperatively. The diagnosis of gastrinoma requires a high index of clinical suspicion and the flawless cooperation of many specialties.

Keywords: Primary hepatic gastrinoma; Zollinger-Ellison syndrome