[Changes in the intramural nervous system in idiopathic megacolon in adults].

The ganglions of the muscular-interic plexus were studied in 94 surgical adult patients with an "idiopathic" megacolon. Both congenital and acquired ganglion lesions were found. Hypogangliosis (58% of patients), hypergangliosis (12% of patients) and hypoplasia (3.5% of patients) are considered as congenital lesions. Acquired degenerative changes of the nervous cells in the ganglions of the intramural nervous system were observed in 26% of patients of this group. Ultrastructurally, some of the ganglioneurocyte lesions were of the reactive type, while the others of the destructive type.