Bones of contention: Hematopoietic marrow within the artery wall

A century and a half ago, pathologists had only histochemistry to study vascular disease, but the detailed observations they made foreshadow recent findings based on molecular techniques, including a report in this issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery-Vascular Science from Laivuori et al.1 In 1863, Rudolf Virchow examined autopsy specimens of calcific atherosclerosis and found “not mere calcification, but ossification . . .true plates of bone.” Half a century later, C.H. Bunting2 examined an atherosclerotic aorta at autopsy and found that the medial layer contained all the elements and microarchitecture of cancellous bone, including cellular marrow and adipocytes:At the base of this atheromatous nodule .