ASSESSMENT OF TUMOR VASCULARITY AS A PROGNOSTIC FACTOR IN LYMPH-NODE NEGATIVE INVASIVE BREAST-CANCER

The association between tumour vascularity and relapse was examined in 93 patients with lymph node negative (LNN) invasive breast cancer. Fa ctor VIII-related antibody was used to stain the microvessels. Vascula rity was defined by the number of vessels per field counted in the are a of highest vascular density at 100 x magnification. These vascular c ounts were divided into three groups of vascular density (group 1: <67 , group 2: 68-100, group 3: >101 vessels/field). Cross-tabulation anal ysis revealed a significant relationship between vascular density and tumour grade (P = 0.027). No association was found between vascularity and tumour size, tumour type, age or menopausal status. Survival anal ysis showed no association between vascularity and relapse- free (P = 0.92) or overall survival (P = 0.99). Significant associations between tumour grade and relapse-free (P = 0.0048) and overall survival (P = 0.0064) and between tumour size at the cut off of 15 mm diameter and r elapse-free (P = 0.0097) and overall survival (P = 0.0271) were found. When grade was taken into account the effect of tumour size became no n-significant (P = 0.059). Our results suggest that assessment of vasc ularity is not an independent prognostic factor in LNN invasive breast cancer.