[Electron microscopy study of insufficient great saphenous veins]

Results of electron microscopic investigations of the vena saphena magna in varicosis are reported. The proximal and distal portion were used in each case. There were neither unambiguous ultrastructural differences on the endothelial cells nor a distinctly different number of Weibel-Palade bodies within the endothelial cells. Compared to this, a more massive dysplasia of the media was ascertained in the distal portion than in the proximal one. It is possible that this represents the structural equivalent of a different pathophysiological reaction which is expressed ultrastructurally in form of vacuolic cytoplasm and disintegration of myofilaments.