Two canine gastrinoma cases highlight value of serial gastrin
Bottom line
Gastrinoma is rare in dogs, and that rarity makes every well-documented case report useful. In a new two-case report in Veterinary Sciences, researchers describe long-term survival in two dogs with pancreatic gastrinoma after surgery, including repeat surgery for recurrence, and suggest that serial serum gastrin concentrations may help monitor disease status alongside imaging and clinical follow-up. The paper addresses a gap in the veterinary literature: canine gastrinoma is often metastatic at diagnosis, curative treatment is difficult, and there hasn't been an established monitoring approach for progression or recurrence. Prior literature has largely emphasized diagnosis and short case descriptions rather than durable postoperative follow-up. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Why it matters: For veterinarians, the practical takeaway is less about proving a new standard of care and more about adding a workable surveillance tool in a disease with limited evidence. Serum gastrin has known diagnostic value in suspected gastrinoma, although interpretation requires context because hypergastrinemia can occur with other conditions and with acid-suppressive therapy. Still, studies in dogs suggest acid suppression usually doesn't push gastrin into the markedly elevated range typical of gastrinoma, and serial testing may offer a relatively accessible adjunct when repeated advanced imaging or immediate re-operation decisions are on the table. In human gastrinoma, serial biomarker trends have also been studied as a way to track tumor burden, which supports the biologic logic of the authors' approach, even if canine-specific validation remains limited. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: Whether additional canine cases confirm that postoperative rises in fasting serum gastrin can reliably flag recurrence early enough to change surgical planning or long-term management. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Key facts
- Study type
- Two-case report
- Species
- Dogs
- Tumor
- Pancreatic gastrinoma
- Treatment
- Primary surgery, and repeat surgery for recurrence
- Outcome
- Long-term survival in both dogs
- Monitoring marker
- Serial serum gastrin concentrations
- Clinical use
- Adjunctive monitoring for disease status
- Limitation
- Canine gastrinoma evidence is sparse, and this is only two cases
A new canine case report is making the argument that serum gastrin may deserve a bigger role in postoperative surveillance for gastrinoma. In Veterinary Sciences, investigators report two dogs with pancreatic gastrinoma that achieved long-term survival after primary surgery and, when recurrence developed, repeat surgery, with serial serum gastrin concentrations used as an adjunctive monitoring marker. That stands out in a tumor type where published veterinary evidence is sparse and prognosis is often guarded because metastasis is common by the time of diagnosis. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
That backdrop matters. Gastrinoma is a functional neuroendocrine tumor arising from non-β pancreatic cells and is associated with hypergastrinemia, acid hypersecretion, and ulcerative gastrointestinal disease consistent with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Reviews of canine and related canid cases describe it as uncommon, difficult to localize in some patients, and frequently advanced at presentation, which has limited opportunities to build evidence around long-term outcomes after surgery. Older reports have documented diagnosis and individual clinical courses, but not a clear, established roadmap for longitudinal monitoring after resection. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Against that background, the new report's contribution is twofold: it documents long survival after surgical management, and it proposes a practical follow-up strategy. Based on the study abstract, both dogs underwent surgical treatment for pancreatic gastrinoma and were followed with serial serum gastrin measurements, which the authors frame as an adjunctive marker for disease monitoring. That idea fits with existing veterinary knowledge that fasting serum gastrin is central to diagnosis, while also reflecting a longstanding challenge: no single lab value should be interpreted in isolation, because gastrin can rise for reasons other than gastrinoma. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
The broader literature helps explain why serial measurement could still be useful. In healthy and clinical canine populations, serum gastrin is influenced by fasting status and can be affected by acid-suppressive drugs, but studies suggest famotidine and omeprazole usually do not create the extreme elevations more typical of functional gastrinoma. A 2023 study also established a reference interval for 12-hour-fasted serum gastrin in adult dogs, which is relevant because standardized sampling conditions are essential if clinicians want to compare values over time. In other words, trend data may be more informative than a single result, especially when interpreted alongside imaging, histopathology, medication history, and clinical signs. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
There doesn't appear to be broad industry reaction to this specific paper yet, which isn't unusual for a niche veterinary case report. But related expert literature supports the clinical reasoning behind it. Reviews on canine gastrinoma caution against relying on fasting gastrin alone for diagnosis, while human literature has explored serial gastrin and chromogranin measurements as markers of tumor burden. Human gastrinoma guidance also continues to emphasize multimodal follow-up, including imaging and, when available, somatostatin receptor-based techniques, underscoring that biomarkers work best as part of a larger surveillance strategy rather than as stand-alone decision tools. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this report is useful because it points toward a more structured way to follow a rare but high-consequence endocrine tumor after surgery. In referral practice, repeat abdominal imaging and exploratory surgery can be expensive, logistically difficult, or delayed until clinical deterioration is obvious. If serial fasting serum gastrin can help identify recurrence earlier, it could support more timely imaging, cleaner case discussions with pet parents, and better selection of dogs for repeat intervention. Just as important, the report reinforces that repeat surgery may be worth considering in selected cases, rather than assuming recurrence automatically shifts the goal to palliation. That said, this is still a two-case report, so the findings should be treated as hypothesis-generating, not practice-changing on their own. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
The paper also lands at a moment when veterinary oncology is paying closer attention to comparative neuroendocrine tumor biology and surveillance. Recent reviews note that imaging for animal neuroendocrine tumors still relies mainly on ultrasound and CT, with intraoperative exploration remaining important, while biomarker-guided follow-up remains underdeveloped compared with human medicine. That makes even small case reports meaningful when they offer a concrete monitoring framework clinicians can test in practice. (frontiersin.org)
What to watch: The next step is external validation: more canine cases, ideally with standardized fasting protocols and consistent imaging follow-up, to determine whether rising serum gastrin reliably predicts recurrence, how early it does so, and which thresholds are clinically actionable for re-staging or repeat surgery. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)