Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 6, 2024; 12(7): 1284-1289
Published online Mar 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i7.1284
Sporadic gastrinoma with refractory benign esophageal stricture: A case report
Qian-Nan Chen, Bing-Qing Bai, Yan Xu, Qiao Mei, Xiao-Chang Liu
Qian-Nan Chen, Bing-Qing Bai, Yan Xu, Qiao Mei, Xiao-Chang Liu, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Chen QN designed and wrote the manuscript; Mei Q and Liu XC edited the manuscript; Bai BQ and Xu Y provided pathological data; All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and gave final approval for publication.
Informed consent statement: The requirement for informed consent was waived by the committee due to the retrospective study design.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Chang Liu, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 219 Jixi Road, Shushan District, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China. liuchenxiaochang@163.com
Received: August 30, 2023
Peer-review started: August 30, 2023
First decision: December 2, 2023
Revised: December 25, 2023
Accepted: February 5, 2024
Article in press: February 5, 2024
Published online: March 6, 2024
Processing time: 184 Days and 0.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gastrinoma is characterized by an excessive release of gastrin, leading to hypersecretion of gastric acid, subsequently resulting in recurrent peptic ulcers, chronic diarrhea, and even esophageal strictures. This case report aims to improve awareness and facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of gastrinoma by presenting a rare case of gastrinoma with refractory benign esophageal stricture (RBES). Additionally, it highlights the persistent challenges that gastroenterologists encounter in managing RBES.

CASE SUMMARY

This case demonstrates a patient with gastrinoma who developed RBES and complete esophageal obstruction despite management with maximal acid suppressive therapy, multiple endoscopic bougie dilations and endoscopic incisional therapy (EIT).

CONCLUSION

It is essential to diagnose gastrinoma as early as possible, as inadequately controlled acid secretion over an extended period increases the risk of developing severe esophageal strictures. In patients with esophageal strictures causing complete luminal obstruction, blind reopening EIT presents challenges and carries a high risk of perforation.

Keywords: Gastrinoma; Zollinger-Ellison syndrome; Neuroendocrine neoplasm; Chronic diarrhea; Refractory benign esophageal stricture; Case report

Core Tip: We report a rare case of sporadic gastrinoma in a young woman who presented with chronic diarrhea, multiple peptic ulcers, and a refractory benign esophageal stricture. The case indicates that inadequately controlled acid secretion over an extended period increases the risk of developing severe esophageal strictures. It also highlights that in patients with complete esophageal strictures, blind reopening endoscopic incisional therapy presents challenges and carries a high risk of perforation.