[Not Available].

The pancreatic capillaries of 25 diabetics with Kimmelstiel-Wilson glomerulosclerosis and 54 without, were examined for PAS-positive homogeneous thickening of the wall. 70 nondiabetic patients were used as controls. The average age of each of the 3 groups was close to 70 years. Homogeneous capillary lesions were found in approximately 1/3 of the cases with glomerulosclerosis, in 1/7 of those without glomerulosclerosis, and not at all in nondiabetics. The homogeneous lesion is mainly situated in the extrainsular capillaries. Histochemically it differs from the similar PAS-positive nodular lesion in Kimmelstiel-Wilson glomerulosclerosis by a negative result in the periodic acid-auramin-Schiff-reaction and its resistance towards pectinase. In the homogeneous lesion of capillaries there is no deposition of fibrin as in hyalinosis of arteries and arterioles. The hyalinosis of the pancreatic islets, repeatedly found in diabetics, has staining properties completely different from the homogeneous capillary lesion. The pathogenesis of this homogeneous capillary lesion remains unclarified.