known to be part of neuroendocrine neoplasms must have to deal with two factors related to this tumor. First, controlling the high amounts by using medications that inhibit gastrin levels. The second part is stabilizing the tumor progression. Gastrinomas have a rate of 60–90% that will become malignant. Patients who do not seek medical treatment such anti-ulcer medication have high rate of recurrence and death secondary to ulcer disease. The prognosis of gastrinoma depends on the level of metastases of the tumor. If patients present with hepatic metastases they might have remaining life span of one year with a five-year survival rate of 20–30%. In patients with localized tumor or localized lymph spread the survival rate of five years is 90%. Lastly, surgical resection of local tumor could lead to complete cure without recurrence in 20–25% of patients. Epidemiology Gastrinoma is the second most common functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET), with a yearly incidence of approximately 0.5 to 21.5 cases per a million of people worldwide. Gastrinomas are located predominantly in the duodenum (70%) and pancreas (25%). Pancreatic gastrinomas are larger than their duodenal counterparts, may occur in any portion of the pancreas, and comprise 25% of these tumors. Gastrinomas are also the most common functional and malignant pancreatic endocrine tumors. They are characterized by gastric hypersecretion that results in peptic ulcers and diarrhea; this condition is known as Zollinger–Ellison syndrome (ZES). Research Recently, research studies have been conducted to seek new medical advances in relation to gastrinoma and Zollinger–Ellison syndrome. The recent studies have shown improved understanding of pathogenesis of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, classifications of those tumors, new treatments/preventions to control the gastrin levels in the gastrointestinal tract, and the best and safest surgical approaches. The study concluded that the wide use of proton pump inhibitors itself might further induce hypergastrinemia (increased gastrin levels in circulatory system) by feedback inhibition. The body will try to induce further release when gastrin level is depleted. Some of the new treatments might include medication that is directed towards the liver such as embolization, chemoembolization, and radioembolization in addition to the currently offered treatments such as chemotherapy, somatostatin analogs. Other treatments that are still in phase three of clinical trials include liver transplantation and peptide-radioreceptor therapy. See also Pancreatic endocrine tumor References External links Emedicine Endocrine neoplasia