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Ultrastructural study of blood capillaries and muscle fibers in patients with obliterating atherosclerosis was carried out over time. Changes in the fine structure of the capillaries and muscle fibers typical of each stage of the obliterating process are described allowing morphological diagnosis of stages of this disease to be performed.

The time course of quantitative changes in the ultrastructure of capillaries and muscle fibrers was studied by the totality of morphological signs in 33 patients with obliterating endarteritis of the lower extremities. As the disease develops, the area of luminal surface and the volume of basal membrane of the capillaries and mitochondria of muscle fibers increase progressively; the volume and number of micropinocytotic vesicles, the volume of myofibrills and the ratio of myofibrill to the mitochondria volume decrease. In early stages of the disease the size of capillary lumen decreases and subsequently increases along with a decrease in the volume of endothelial cells. An increase in the number of mitochondria in a unit of area of muscle fiber at early stages with subsequent decrease was noted. All the values of observed changes are statistically significant. None of the examined features of the structure can be considered pathognomonic separately, but the totality of the quantitative alterations gives a whole picture of the progressive disease.

The ultrastructure of blood capillaries and muscle fibers was examined in the I, II, III, and IV stages of obliterating endarteritis (OE) of the lower extremities. A number of morphological parameters were analysed quantitatively. The pathogenetic importance of changes in the fine structure of capillaries and muscle fibers for each stage of the disease was demonstrated. Each stage of OE is characterized by definite morphological features of the structure of blood capillaries and muscle fibers which permit to use these data clinically for biopsy diagnosis of different OE stages.