[Role of glomus shunts of the anorectal cavernous bodies in the mechanism of hemorrhoid development].

Histological examination of the hemorrhoids in 67 preparations of the rectum of adult persons showed the significance, in their development, of glomus and glomus blocking arteriovenous anorectal cavernous bodies, the two-three-fold increase of their volume was established. The dilatation of the glomus body lumen (from 20-30 to 270-480 microns) in the cavernous body wall is due to the epithelioid cell atrophy and sclerosis. When persistent dilatation and shortening of the distance between glomus mouths occurs, arterial blood passes from the peripheral branches of the superior rectal artery directly to the vena lumen, resulting, first, in the development of a simple compensatory and then varicose angioma-like flebectasia.