[Morphometric investigations of the bronchial tree in chronic bronchitis. Part II. The morphology of tissue alterations of the bronchial walls. (author's transl)].

The data of the literature and the methods of this investigation have been discussed in the previous paper. The present report (21 cases of chronic catarrhal bronchitis and one case of chronic atrophic bronchitis) is containing the morphometric results of tissue changes in the bronchial walls of four proximal bronchial generations. In the catarrhal form of chronic bronchitis in contrast to normal conditions the Reid's index increases about two folds, its value being about equal for the main, labor, segmental and subsegmental bronchi of the first order. In catarrhal chronic bronchitis the relative volume (in %) of the bronchial glands of the bronchial walls increases in the same bronchial generations, vice versa, relative the volume of the connective tissue decreases, but the relative volume of the smooth muscle and of the cartilaginous discs has been found to be unchanged. This volume of the bronchial glands to periphery (from the main bronchus to the subsegmental) has been demonstrated to decrease a little (not significantly). The relative volume of smooth muscles and of the connective tissue increases. Morphometric findings could be obtained only in one case of atrophic chronic bronchitis; therefore they are inadequate for statistic analysis.