Abstract
Objective:
To investigate the relation between microvessel density in surgical specimen and, histopathology and differentiation of tumor, nodal metastasis and stage of disease in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma.
Design:
Retrospective analysis of clinical and pathologic data abstracted from hospital charts.
Setting:
Government referral-based research hospital. Patients: Twenty two epidermoid and 16 adenocarcinoma cases who underwent lung surgery.
Measurements:
The microvessels in tumor specimens were demonstrated by staining endothelial cells immunohistoche- mically for factor VIII using streptoavidin-biotin, alkaline phosphatase complex technique.
Results:
Microvessel counts were significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than in epidermoid carcinoma (p=0.0006). In poor differentiated epidermoid carcinoma specimens, angiogenesis was more intense than well and intermediate differentiated specimens (p=0.0064). Although the intensity of angiogenesis was high in patients with mediastinal lymph node metastasis when compared with nonmetastasizing cases, the difference was not significant.
Conclusion:
The intensity of angiogenesis is correlated with the grade of differentiation, the lower the differentiation the higher the angiogenesis, and is high in adeno-type of tumor.
Keywords: Microvessel density, Angiogenesis, Lung cancer, Differentiation
