[The role of glomi (arteriovenous anastomoses) in the pathomechanisms of solitary enchondromas (author's transl)].

The author performed the histlologic examination of 62 solitary enchondromas located in the short tubular bones of the hand and the feet. In 25 cases the thinned cortical bone and its periosteum covering the lesion could be examined, too. Comparison with the controls revealed that the glomi (arteriovenous anastomoses) in the periosteum, or close to it were open in 1 case, strongly contracted in 9 cases, and closed in 15 cases. It is shown throughout the whole material that the pathologic tissue of the enchondromas has a poor vascular supply. In 14 out of 62 cases the septa amoung the cartilaginous lobes were filled with blood. In the vicinity of these, however, a regular osteoblastic ossification sets in. The above results lead to the conclusion that in the pathomechanism of the enchondromas the local hypoxaemia induced by functional disturbance of the glomi plays an important role in the proliferation of the bradytrophic cartilaginous tissue.