Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between gastric wall thickness and BMI.

METHODS:

Bariatric surgery patients undergoing a pre-operative screening EGD and patients undergoing endoscopic ultrasound for non-gastric pathology were prospectively enrolled in the study. Patients underwent endoscopic ultrasound evaluation with measurements of gastric wall thickness at six areas of the stomach. The primary outcome was the correlation of BMI and mean gastric wall thickness.

RESULTS:

Twenty-four patients were enrolled in the study. Eight patients were excluded due to endoscopic abnormalities of the stomach (five) or intolerance to the procedure (three). Ten patients with a normal BMI and six obese patients were included in the analysis. BMI in the non-obese group was 23.8 ± 2.5 kg/m(2) compared to 54.7 ± 14.6 kg/m(2) in the obese population. The average gastric wall thickness amongst all subjects was 3.27 ± 0.42 mm. Mean gastric thickness in the non-obese group was 3.25 ± 0.45 mm compared to 3.30 ± 0.39 mm in the obese group (p = 0.41). When both groups were combined, there did not appear to be a linear relationship between mean thickness and BMI (R (2) = 0.005). There was no linear relationship between gastric wall thickness and waist circumference (R (2) = 0.02).

CONCLUSION:

There was no significant correlation between gastric wall thickness and BMI. Mean gastric wall thickness of endoscopically normal stomachs was in the range of 3-4 mm.