ANGIOMEGALY

The authors report a clinical and ultrastructural study on a group of patients with angiomegaly, a vascular disorder characterized by elonga ted and distended blood vessels affecting the arterial (arteriomegaly) and/or venous system (venomegaly), The arterial group, drawn from a l arge arteriographic series, focuses on a comparison between atheroscle rotic arteriopathy and arteriomegaly. The venous group, drawn from a l arge ultrasound series of vein disorders, is made up of patients with venomegaly. Venomegaly gives rise to few or no symptoms and it appears to be less frequent than arteriomegaly but as the latter proved to be associated in the majority of cases studied, Based on ultrastructural findings, the chief abnormality of angiomegaly seems to lie in a spec ific alteration of the elastic component of the vessel wall, We found slightly osmiophil amorphous elastic material neighbouring the basemen t membrane of the myocytes of the vessel walls, In the superficial par ts of these myocytes occurred a great number of pinocytotic vesicles i ndicating for a rich creation of the new elastic material, Middle or h ighly osmiophil thick elastic fibers with irregular side protrusions w ere also found among myocytes remembering the moth-eaten picture. Resu lts from a large ultrasonographic study on patients' relatives suggest an inheritability of this vascular disorder.