CARCINOID-SYNDROME DUE TO A MALIGNANT SOMATOSTATINOMA

Somatostatinoma is one of the rarest tumours of the endocrine pancreas . Cardinal manifestations of a somatostatinoma include gallstones, mil d diabetes mellitus, steatorrhoea, diarrhoea and dyspepsia. Like any o ther pancreatic islet cell carcinoma, a somatostatinoma may also produ ce several different hormones such as adrenocorticotropic hormone, cal citonin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, pancreatic polypeptide, ga strin, insulin, and glucagon. In many cases, the clinical picture is d ominated by the effect of these other hormones. We present a patient w ith somatostatinoma in which an immunocytochemical study of the specim ens from pancreas and liver showed a weak positive reaction for gastri n besides a strong positive reaction for somatostatin, Interestingly, this patient also showed the signs of carcinoid syndrome which was suc cessfully treated with octreotide.