Plasma gastrin in congenitial hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. A hypothesis disproved.

Fasting plasma gastrin levels were measured in babies with pyloric stenosis and in normal babies of similar age. There was no difference in gastrin levels either before or after operation between the babies with pyloric stenosis and normal babies. Similarly, neither the fasting blood glucose nor the fasting gastric pH of the babies with pyloric stenosis differed significantly from the values obtained in normal babies. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that gastrin in the fasting baby has an aetiological role in the development of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis of infancy. An alternative hypothesis is suggested.