Letter to “Mapping of Ghrelin Gene Expression and Cell Distribution in the Stomach of Morbidly Obese Patients—a Possible Guide for Efficient Sleeve Gastrectomy Construction”—Authors’ Reply

Excerpt

In our study [1], we examined tissue samples from three different regions of the resected stomach segment of obese individuals who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. The regions were the fundus, body, and pre-antral area. The “pre-antral” region was at the distal end of the specimen, i.e., the area closest to the true antrum that was included in the resection. As specified in the “Materials and Methods” section, the stomach was divided using linear endoscopic staplers, commencing 5 cm proximally to the pylorus. This correlates to the antrum in most patients, albeit the proximal part thereof. We used “pre-antral” to differentiate from endoscopic/histologic specimens obtained in other reports from the prepyloric region endoscopically in healthy patients [2] or from resected antra of gastric cancer patients [3]. …