[Angiomyoma. A pathologo-anatomic analysis of 229 cases]

Abstract

An analysis was made of 229 cases of angiomyoma retrieved from the authors' own files. Studies were aimed at histological features, morphological variability, tumour localisation as well as at distribution by sexes and age groups. The angiomyoma cases were subdivided by histological features into solid forms (18 per cent), venous forms (38 per cent), combinations (43 per cent), and cavernous variants (two cases only). That subdivision was based on variable relationships between smooth muscles, on the one hand, and vascular cavities of different shapes, on the other. Angiomyoma was found to occur in high incidence in the fourth to sixth decennium of age, with clearly recordable predilection for females, and localized in 40 per cent of all cases in the region of the lower leg. Noteworthy peculiarities included predominance of male patients with combined or mixed angiomyoma with cavernous components or with solely cavernous forms and preference of the venous subtype for the head-neck region. The morphological structure of angiomyoma is discussed in some detail and is interpreted as a correlate of an organoid mixed tumour with muscular and vascular components. It is against this background that the term of "angiomyoma" is definitely preferred to "vascular leiomyoma".