Arteries and Veins: Surgical Pathology Dissection

Arteries and Veins

The examination of arteries and veins is straight-forward, particularly if one remembers the three layers of each: the intima, media, and adventitia. Measure the length and external and internal diameters of the vessel. Examine the lumen for thrombi, examine the intima for evidence of inti-mal proliferations such as atherosclerosis, and document the percentage of luminal narrowing caused by any lesions. Examine the media for evidence of aneurysm formation or fibromuscu-lar hyperplasia. Take sections that are both longi-tudinal and perpendicular to the long axis of the vessel. The longitudinal sections will be particu-larly helpful in demonstrating alterations involv-ing the media, and the perpendicular sections can demonstrate the effect of any lesion on the luminal diameter.