Practical significance of gastric rugal folds.

A clinical pilot study oriented toward the practical value of gastric fold assessment offers the follow: (1) Younger patients (below 60 years) with carcinomas may have rugose stomachs as opposed to the more usual presentation in the elderly. (2) Some proportionality of gastric fold to acid output may exist in normal patients or cases with peptic disease of the distal stomach or duodenum. In any given case, however, acid secretory capacity may be very broad. (3) Proportionality of fold pattern within the stomach itself or with respect to the duodenum, as noted in the literature, is emphasized. (4) There exists a possible upper limit of "physiologic" fold thickness of 4 to 5 mm. beyond which an additional pathologic process may be inferred. (5) Hypertrophic gastritix and gastric body ulcer disease may illustrate this progression and possibly share similar underlying mucosal pathology and rugal characteristics.