[Palmar fibromatosis (morbus Dupuytren). Comparative clinical, pathological and anatomical mass examinations (author's transl)].

Classification (119 patients) of age, sex and side distributions and the frequency of additional fibromatoses or other diseases in palmar fibromatosis (Morbus Dupuytren) showed extensive agreement with other investigations. Contractures were also found in mutiple foci with high cell density and without intensive collagen fiber formation corresponding to the proliferative or involution phase. Cells with contractile elements ("myofibroblasts") could also be demonstrated with both electron and immunofluorescence microscopes. These elements may be of importance for the formation of the contracture in palmar fibromatosis and may disappear again as the collagen becomes more mature.