Abstract
SUMMARYThe appearance of the small bowel mucosa and mucosal measurements are described in 45 patients with various malignant conditions and compared with the findings in 25 control subjects. The mean villous height and mean total mucosal thickness were significantly reduced in the patients with malignant disease. The mucosa in malignant disease was normal in 38%, and showed simple atrophy in 31%, partial villous atrophy in 29% and subtotal villous atrophy in 2% of cases. The mucosal changes were related to the duration of illness and the degree of loss of weight. They were less frequently detected in patients with bronchial carcinoma. The presence of metastases, the treatment given, the interval before death and the presence of steatorrhœa were not related to the abnormal mucosa. Steatorrhœa was detected in one‐third of the patients, but it was usually slight. Steatorrhœa did not account for weight loss and abnormalities in the small bowel mucosa appeared to be unrelated to the steatorrhœa.
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