Serum gastrin levels in children with peptic ulcer disease.

Fasting serum gastrin values were measured by radioimmunoassay in 53 children with peptic ulcer disease. The mean fasting serum gastrin levels for children with chronic duodenal ulcer, acute gastric ulcer, acute duodenal ulcer who were younger than two years old and acute duodenal ulcer who were older than two years old were: 46.2 +/- 25.7 pg/mL, 46.9 +/- 43.5 pg/mL, 47.9 +/- 12.0 pg/mL and 37.5 +/- 17.8 pg/mL, respectively. Children with peptic ulcer disease did not have elevated fasting serum gastrin levels when compared with age-matched controls. We conclude that a fasting serum gastrin value cannot be used as a screening test for peptic ulcer disease in children, except for Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.