A case of duodenal somatostatinoma: diagnostic usefulness of calcium--pentagastrin test.

A duodenal somatostatinoma is described in a patient suffering from a tumoral obstruction of the bile duct. The diagnosis was based upon histologic and immunocytochemical characterization of tumoral fragments and later confirmed by immunochemical analysis of liver metastases. Basal peripheral somatostatin immunoreactivity levels were normal until liver failure developed. A hypersomatostatinemia was induced by combined injection of calcium and pentagastrin, which was not the case in normal volunteers or in patients with disseminated pancreatic adenocarcinoma. This test was also positive in a case of generalized pancreatic somatostatinoma 4 yr after streptozotocin treatment. It was concluded that the calcium-pentagastrin test might be useful in the diagnosis of somatostatinomas.