자궁 체부의 자궁근종 환자를 20대에서 60대까지 연령별로 구분하여 자궁근종의 이차변성, 교질섬유, 탄력섬유 및 산성점액성다당류의 분포 및 변동을 관찰하여 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 1) 이차변성중 초자변성이 가장 빈번하게 관찰되었고 이는 근종의 위치나 환자의 연령보다는 종 괴 크기에 따라 변화하는 경향을 보였다. 2) 교질섬유는 대부분의 근종에서 출현하나 환자 연령, 종괴 크기 및 위치 등과는 관계가 없었 다. 3) 탄력섬유는 근종내에서 염색되지 않았다. 4) 산성점액성다당류의 출현 역시 종괴에 따라 변화가 많으나 연령, 크기등과 일정한 관계는 알 수 없었다.

A myoma of the uterus is one of the most common of human tumors and much the most frequent of uterine neoplasms (Novak and Woodruff, 1967), and composed mainly of muscle but with some fibrous connective tissue elements and well circumscribed but not encapsulated benign tumor. The macroscopic and microscopic features, however, may be greatly altered by certain secondary degenerative processes such as hyaline degeneration, cystic degeneration, calcification, infection and suppuration, necrosis, fatty changes and sarcomatous degenerations. Until now, little or nothing is known as to the underlying causes ofr the development of myoma, but the possible roles of hereditary factor, sterility and ovarian hormonal disturbances have been discussed. And it is now quite generally accpted that the source of uterine myoma is muscle tissue such as genitoblast introduced by DeSnoo(1934). Miller and Ludovici(1950) also considered the persistence of such cells as almost a necessity. But the variation of secondary degeneration and the pattern of other connective tissue elements according to the type of myoma, to the age of patients and to the size of tumors are not well known. The present study is an attempt to investigate this variation of the patterns of secondary degeneration, collagen fiber, elastic fiber and acid mucopolysaccharide according to age of patients, size and type of the myomas.