[Clinicopathological study on atherosclerosis of the right gastroepiploic arteries].

We evaluated the extent of atherosclerosis of the right gastroepiploic arteries (RGEAs) used as a graft material in coronary bypass grafting for ischemic heart diseases, with analyzing the presence of arteriosclerotic lesions and the site of predilection and studying their relationship to clinical risk factors of ischemic heart disease. The subjects were 32 cases, 18 males and 14 females, ranging in age from 32 to 80 years (mean 61 years), in which gastrectomy was performed for early gastric cancer. RGEA 20 cm in length was taken from the junction of the gastroduodenal artery of the stomach and divided into A, B, C and D at intervals of 5 cm proximally, and each part was subdivided into the length of about 5 mm to make ultra-thin sections for HE and Elastica van Gieson staining. The area of intima (I), the area of media (M) and circumference of media (L) were calculated. The arterial section was transformed to a hypothetical state in which the internal elastic lamina was stretched to make an exact circle. The degree of stenosis "I" was expressed by the following formula. [formula: see test] The maximum value of "I" in the sections A, B, C and D in individual cases was designated as Ar, Br, Cr and Dr, and the maximum value of "I" among the four sections in each case was defined as R. Atherosclerosis was graded according to R value as follows. I; R < 25%, II; 25% < or = R < 50%, III; 50% < or = R < 75%, IV; 75% < or = R.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)