[Connective tissue framework of the greater omentum]

Tissue samples of the greater omentum were intraoperatively collected from 17 patients on whom laparotomy was performed for different indications. The connective tissue framework of the unstained omentum was investigated, using a stereomicroscope. Histological sections were prepared from large saw-cuts of the plastinated omentum. The greater omentum of man was found to possess a connective tissue framework with blood and lymphatic vessels and was also found to be embedded in adipose tissue. The latter is made up of fatty organs differentiated in size. Round to oval organs are formed by fat cells. These organs are delimitated from their environment by a tender connective tissue capsule and are connected, through a pedunculated structure, to a vascular cord of the connective tissue framework. Connective tissue fibres radiate from the framework into the capsule which is made up of a submesothelial connective tissue layer and the mesothelium. The peduncle of a fatty organ consists of connective tissue as well as of supplying blood and lymphatic vessels. Fatty organs surrounded by connective tissue fibres were visualised even in highly adipose regions by means of plastinated saw-cuts of the greater omentum.