[Extent of the gastric antrum in duodenal ulcer patients]

The extent of the gastric antrum in duodenal ulcer patients and the relationship between the first antral branch of the vagal nerve and proximal delimitation of antrum were examined using resected gastric specimens of 46 duodenal ulcer patients. It has been demonstrated that: (1) There was a variable extent of measured distance from the pyloric ring to the antrum-corpus boundary (intermediate zone), and it ascended with age along the lesser curvature. (2) The intermediate zone was a transitional change of the fundic and pyloric gland area. The change on the lesser curvature was abrupt, but on the greater curvature it was gradual. It displaced distally on the greater curvature, and was found to be symmetrical on the anterior and posterior walls. (3) The proximal delimitation of the antrum lay on the lesser curvature where the first antral branch of the vagal nerve reached the lesser curvature topographically. (4) At the lesser curvature, the antrum-corpus boundary was found to be located within +/- 2 cm from the first antral branch in 93.5% of the cases. It may be a useful landmark to decide the proximal boundary of gastric antrum while performing antrectomy. (5) The shrinkage factor for specimens after 10% formalin fixation appeared to be between 0.7 and 0.9.