THE PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF LYMPHOVASCULAR SPACE INVASION IN ENDOMETRIAL CANCER WHEN CONVENTIONAL HEMOTOXYLIN AND EOSIN STAINING IS COMPARED TO IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STAINING

The current study was undertaken to compare the usefulness of hemotoxy lin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemical staining to ident ify lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in endometrial cancer and to evaluate the presence of LVSI detected by either technique as an indep endent prognostic factor. Histologic sections from 92 patients with cl inical stage I-II endometrial cancer were reviewed, and representative sections were stained immunohistochemically with antibodies for von W illebrand factor and blood group isoantigens. To compare the prognosti c significance of LVSI detected by H&E staining with that detected by immunohistochemical staining, univariate and multivariate analyses wer e performed. Thirty (32.6%) of the 92 cases showed LVSI in H&E stainin g. In 8 of the 30 cases, LVSI was negative by immunohistochemical stai ning, while LVSI was positive by immunohistochemical stainings in 2 of 62 cases showing negative LVSI in H&E staining. In univariate analysi s, LVSI detected by H&E and immunohistochemical staining was proved to be significant as a prognostic factor. In multivariate analysis by Co x's proportional hazards model, LVSI identified by H&E staining was se lected as one of significant prognostic factors, but LVSI identified b y immunohistochemical staining not selected. The results of this study indicate that LVSI is one of the independent prognostic factors in en dometrial cancer, and that LVSI as detected by H&E is more prognostic of survival than immunohistochemical detection. (C) 1995 Academic Pres s, Inc.