Spiral CT of the stomach in hypotonia

A method for investigating the stomach using spiral CT was developed and 15 patients with normal stomachs were examined. The anatomy and wall thickness was studied. The method was tested in the preoperative staging of 35 patients with a high suspicion of gastric cancer. Comparison of the CT results with endoscopic, radiographic, surgical and histological findings showed that in advanced gastric cancer the full extent of the disease is better visualised with CT than with conventional methods. There exists, however, a problem of false-negatives regarding lymph node involvement.Correspondence to: S. Kösling