Vasa Vasorum in Coronary-Artery Disease

To the Editor: We were very pleased to see the beautiful in vitro injection studies by Barger et al. in the January 19 issue,¹ which directed attention to the periluminal network of vessels seen in the wall of atherosclerotic vessels. This network, originally demonstrated in vitro by Winternitz in 1932, extends from the adventitia through the arterial wall into the intimal plaques. Winternitz proposed that these vessels were hypertrophied vasa vasorum and might be the site of medical and intimal hemorrhage seen in atherosclerotic vessels.² We have seen a similar vascular network surrounding the treated segment of the superficial femoral.