A case of recurrent gastrinoma in the liver with a review of "primary" hepatic gastrinomas.

The present report concerns a patient with a malignant gastrin-producing neuroendocrine tumour (ie, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome) with recurrent hepatic gastrinomas, in whom no gastrinoma in the duodenum, pancreas or other extrahepatic sites could be identified despite the use of multiple, repeatedly performed imaging and exploration techniques over the past 20 years. A short review on primary liver gastrinomas published since 1981 is also given. Interestingly, our patient is the only case with documented recurrent gastrinoma in the liver. None of the cases in the literature had liver gastrinomas as part of the multiple endocrine neoplasia type I syndrome. The interpretation of hepatic gastrinomas as primary lesions is questionable unless comprehensive investigation and well documented long-term follow-up is performed.