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A rare case of acute myelosclerosis has been described in a 20-year-old man. Based upon literature data and our own studies a clinical and morphological analysis of the case was presented. The pathogenesis of the disease was also discussed.

The authors made a quantitative analysis of the active hematopoietic tissue of the bone marrow with particular consideration of its atrophy in the course of various diseases. The material consisted of 407 non-selected autopsy cases. For a morphometric analysis the bone marrow was sampled from the sternum, ala ossis illi and spine. In the quantitative analysis of the active hematopoietic tissue we took into account age groups as quantitative changes appear with age. Atrophy of the bone marrow was in 19.4% of the studied cases. The presence of bone marrow atrophy was found in the course of various diseases, most frequently neoplastic, particularly in patients aged from 50 to 59 years.

We analyzed the incidence of bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries in nonselected autopsy material involving 620 cases. We evaluated the incidence of these emboli, age, sex, underlying disease and microscopic picture. It was found that bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries occurred in 7% of cases, most frequently in patients aged from 50 to 69 years and they were located in the medium and small-lumen arteries. It was found that bone marrow emboli of the pulmonary arteries may complicate posttraumatic bone fractures, costal and sternal fractures in the course of reanimation as well as malignant neoplasms and shock.

We analyzed the morphology and incidence of aggregations of mature lymphocytes of the bone marrow in the autopsy material of 425 cases excluding disorders of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems. We found that lymphocytic aggregations occurred in 21.1% cases. There were two morphologic types of lymphocytic aggregations of the bone marrow, namely lymphoid follicles and infiltrates. It was shown that the incidence of lymphoid nodules of the bone marrow increased with age and that the structures were more frequent in women. We pointed to the significance of lymphocytic aggregations presence in the bone marrow in differentiating with malignant infiltrations of the lymphatic system involving the bone marrow.

The authors analyzed the incidence of necrosis of the bone marrow in nonselected autopsy material. The studies included 419 cases of various disease types. Necrosis of the bone marrow was found in 83 cases (19.8%). It was most frequently observed in patients with neoplastic disease of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems (26.3%) and malignant neoplasms of different origin (21.9%). In 40% cases necrosis of the bone marrow were accompanied by neoplastic metastases into the hematopoietic tissue, and thrombotic changes in the blood vessels occurred in 22.9% of these cases. Our results point to a fairly frequent occurrence of necrosis of the bone marrow, especially in the course of neoplastic disease.

The authors analyse the incidence of metastases into the bone marrow in carcinomas of the stomach, pancreas, liver and gallbladder. Specimens from the bone marrow taken were by trephine biopsy from the sternum, ala ossis ilii and spine. Metastases into the bone marrow were found in carcinomas of the stomach, pancreas and gallbladder but not in hepatic carcinoma. Neoplastic metastases were most frequent in adenocarcinoma of the stomach.

The authors analyzed the incidence of pathologic lesions of the bone marrow in the form of sclerosis and fibrosis in patients with lung and gastrointestinal tract (gastric, pancreatic, hepatic and bile duct) carcinomas. In the analysis of argentaffin and collagen fibres in the bone marrow we used Kundel's score modified by Bauermeister. The results obtained in the studied group were compared with the bone marrow of persons without neoplastic diseases and other disorders that might have affected the bone marrow. It was found that in patients with neoplastic disease and fibrosis of the bone marrow were quite frequent disturbances.