• Ki Tae Suk, Dae Wook Lim, Moon Young Kim, Dong Hun Park, Kyu Hong Kim, Jung Min Kim, Jae Woo Kim, Hyun Soo Kim, Sang Ok Kwon, Soon Koo Baik, and Sung Jin Park.
• Department of Internal Medicine and Institute of Lifelong Health, Yonsei University, Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Gangwon-do, South Korea.
• J Clin Ultrasound. 2008 Oct 1; 36 (8): 462-6.

PurposeTo determine the value of a thickened gastric wall detected during transabdominal sonography (TAS) in the diagnosis of gastric cancer.MethodThis prospective study comprised 312 patients who underwent both TAS and endoscopy. Transverse TAS scanning was performed using a 3.5-MHz curved transducer to measure gastric wall thickness in the antrum and body of the stomach. Based on endoscopic and histologic findings, we classified the patients into 3 groups: normal or benign disease (BD), early gastric cancer (EGC), and advanced gastric cancer (AGC). TAS findings were then compared.ResultsThe thickness of the gastric wall was 4.9 +/- 1.6 mm in 262 patients with BD, 5.6 +/- 2.4 mm in 21patients with EGC, and 10.3 +/- 4.7 mm in 29 patients with AGC (p < 0.01). A gastric wall thickness of greater than 7 mm had a 75.0% sensitivity, 92.6% specificity, 50.0% positive predictive value, and 97.4% negative predictive value in the diagnosis of AGC.ConclusionAlthough not suitable as a screening method for gastric cancer, a thickening of the gastric wall of >7 mm may be a marker for AGC.

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