Search

Eight cases of adenomatoid tumors of the male genital tract are presented. Histological, histochemical, and electron microscopic studies were performed and an approach to a new classification of adenomatoid tumors was discussed. The number of so-called adenomatoid tumors of male genital tract reported in Japan adding our eight cases totalled 60 cases. These were classified as follows; 10 cases of mesothelial (superficial) type and 50 cases of adenomatoid (profound) type. Besides these, 8 cases of mesothelial type were reported in foreign literatures. Three cases of adenomatoid tumors of the uterus and a case of epididymitis chronica with reactive proliferation of mesothelial cells were also examined. As a result of these investigations, it is suggested that the histogenesis of the so-called adenomatoid tumors is composed of two different processes; i.e., mesothelial type arising from serosal mesothelial cells. and adenomatoid type arising from immature Müllerian mesenchymal tissue.

Clinicopathological findings of a case of chronic plasma cell osteomyelitis of a sixteen years old Japanese boy who underwent surgery under the diagnosis of malignant bone tumor of the proximal tibial metaphysis, have been presented. Sixty-one cases of chronic plasma cell osteomyelitis including this case were reviewed. The authors described that is is necessary to make a careful differentiation between these cases and solitary myeloma clinically and microscopically.

Histological examinations were conducted on specimens of 368 intervertebral discs (T11/12-L5/S1), using X-ray photography and discography. Specimens were obtained from 61 individuals (36 males and 25 females) whose ages ranged from 25 to 85 years. Fifty-four Schmorl's nodes were found in 28 of the patients (19 males and 9 females), and in 43 discs. In the peripheral regions of Schmorl's nodes, where the vertebral bodies were in contact with the node, growth of cartilaginous cells was seen in many cases. Thickened bone trabeculae were also seen in three nodes accompanied by syncytia. These three nodes were detectable by X-ray photography of all discs containing Schmorl's nodes, and 35 were subjected to discography. Among these discs, 10 showed a limited form of shadow and 25 showed a diffuse form, and Schmorl's nodes were detected in 11 that showed a diffuse form of shadow. It was possible to detect Schmorl's nodes when they were contiguous with a degenerated annulus fibrosus adjoining the nuclear cavity. Pathogenetically, the presence of Schmorl's nodes in patients of middle and advanced age is interpreted to be one of the symptoms of age-related changes in the cartilaginous plate.

Three hundred sixty-eight intervertebral discs (T11/12-L5/S1) were obtained at autopsy from 61 individuals (36 male, 25 female) ranging from 25 to 85 years of age, and subsequently examined histopathologically as sagittal-sectioned specimens with special reference to the cartilaginous plates. The numbers of cartilaginous foci found in fissured and ruptured regions of the plates were found to increase with age, and were considered to represent a restoration mechanism. Measurement of the cartilaginous plate/intervertebral disc antero-posterior length ratio showed a decrease with age in intervertebral discs from the same spinal level. Therefore, cartilage cell proliferation in the vertebral body rim was found following rupture of the outer layer of the annulus fibrosus and was thought to be one of the causes of spur formation in spondylosis deformans. When the changes in a cartilaginous plate with aging were accompanied by destructive processes of the vertebrae such as osteoporosis or metastatic cancer, an increase in the height of the disc, or ballooning, developed. On the other hand, when degeneration of the intervertebral disc increased and the nucleus pulposus collapsed, the height of the disc decreased. Thus, although the cartilaginous plate exhibits a restoration mechanism, degeneration with age progresses, resulting in various disc lesions.