The purpose of this work was the comparison of morphometric measurements of postcapillary vessels with high endothelium in surgically removed palatine tonsils from patients with rheumatic arthritis and carditis and with chronic tonsillitis. The examined group was a group of 36 women, age 18 to 60, treated in 3rd Clinic of Otholaryngology, Katowice, during the period 1930-1994, who had removed palatine tonsils for laryngologic, rheumatologic or cardiologic reasons. In the study it has been found that the process of chronic inflammation in tissue is accompanied by increase in activity of postcapillary vessels and by oedema of vascular net. Morphometric examinations of postcapillary vessels of palatine tonsils may be used in the diagnosis of the source of infection in the focal pathological states.

Keywords: postcapillary vessels, palatine tonsils, Rheumatic Fever, morphometry