Gynecology . calcified process may be in scattered areas or may involve the entire there are multiple fibroids the calcification may appear in some of the tumorsand not in others. Regressive Changes.—After the menopause a change takes place in the tissueof the fibroid like that which occurs in the uterus. The change consists princi-pally in a diminishing proportion of muscular to connective tissue. The con-nective tissue gradually loses its cellular elements and approaches cicatricial NEW GROWTHS 267 tissue in character. There is a consequent shrinking of the tumor bulk. This
Gynecology . calcified process may be in scattered areas or may involve the entire there are multiple fibroids the calcification may appear in some of the tumorsand not in others. Regressive Changes.—After the menopause a change takes place in the tissueof the fibroid like that which occurs in the uterus. The change consists princi-pally in a diminishing proportion of muscular to connective tissue. The con-nective tissue gradually loses its cellular elements and approaches cicatricial NEW GROWTHS 267 tissue in character. There is a consequent shrinking of the tumor bulk. Thisatrophy of uterine fibroids has led to the belief that they disappear or are ab-sorbed after the menopause. They probably never disappear. Regressive or atrophied fibroid tumors are not to be regarded as beyondthe pale of danger, for they are especially prone to various forms of degenera-tion. Atrophy of fibroids is not entirely confined to the menopause, for it is some-times observed during the Fig. 86.—Fibromyoma with power. Much of the tissue has become necrotic, leaving material of a thick fluid consistencywhich has no definite structure microscopically, infiltrated with a few leukocytes. The myomatoustissue is preserved along the blood-vessels, as is well shown to the right of the drawing. Sarcomatous Change.—The so-called malignant degeneration of fibroids occursmost commonly in long-existing tumors after the menopause. The changestarts usually at some localized point near the center of the growth. The entiretumor may become involved and be the starting-point of distant is a wide variation in the estimates of the frequency with which sarcoma-tous change takes place. This is most generally put at 5 per cent. More recentinvestigations with improved staining methods have demonstrated that manyof the diagnoses are erroneous, and that the actual proportion is nearer 1 percent. (See also Sarcoma of Uterus.) 268 GYNECOLOGY In orde
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