Is maternal gastrin important in congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis?
The birth of a normal infant to a woman with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is described. The cord blood serum gastrin was very elevated. This suggests that maternal gastrin can cross the placenta, a fact previously in doubt in man. The infant did not develop congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. This is further evidence that raised blood gastrin in utero is not an important causative factor in the development of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis in man.
