LYMPHATICS OF BLOOD VESSELS

Abstract

In recent years a number of investigations of the anatomy of the vasa vasorum of major blood vessels have been made (1, 2, 3, 4), but few observations of the lymphatic component of vasa vasorum have been recorded. Investigations of lymphatics of blood vessel walls were reported nearly one hundred years ago (5), and the anatomical findings apparently were unclear which resulted in considerable debate among contemporary investigators regarding what had been observed. Most of the controversy seemed to center about whether intercellular spaces were being interpreted as lymphatic capillaries. Some investigators at that time even denied that lymphatics existed within or about the walls of the blood vessels. In recent years there have been only a few reports specifically on the subject (6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

The present study describes results of a preliminary investigation to determine the anatomical relationships of lymphatics to the walls of blood vessels. No effort was made to delineate specific lymph drainage pathways.