Morphometric analysis of the loss of chief and parietal cells after partial gastrectomy for duodenal ulcer.

Relative chief and parietal cell volume densities were estimated morphometrically in the remnant mucosa of 98 male patients ("series"), operated on for duodenal ulcer by the Billroth II, and in the body mucosa of 55 subjects, age and sex matched, from a random series of a Finnish population ("controls"). The relative volumes of chief and parietal cells were significantly lower in the series than in the controls. The mean chief cell: parietal cell ratio was significantly higher in the series than in the controls. In the controls the ratio decreased with increasing loss of normal tubules. However, no such decrease was discernable in the series, owing to wide scatter of the individual ratios. High ratios (greater than or equal 2.0) were found in 17 cases of the series and in one of the controls. These 17 patients with high ratios had a significantly higher mean length of the foveoles and a significantly lower mean score of the round cell infiltration than the operated patients with lower ratios.