LOW VASCULAR DENSITY INDICATES POOR RESPONSE TO RADIOTHERAPY IN SMALLGLOTTIC CARCINOMAS

Reportedly the high density of vessels adjacent to various tumours is associated with increased tendency to metastasis and poor prognosis. I n contrast, for other cancers a high vessel density is correlated with a good response to radiation therapy and thus a good prognosis. In th is study we measured the vessel density in 53 small glottic SCC (T1N0 and T2N0), treated with radiation (66-70 Gy). The blood vessels were v isualised by an immunohistochemical staining method (ABC), using a pri mary antibody BE2 which reacts with blood group H antigen on endotheli al cells. The intra- and interobserver reproducibility of the vessel c ounting was good (kappa = 0.78). We found a significant correlation be tween low vascular density and increased risk of recurrent disease (p= 0.0158). Cox multivariate analysis showed that both vascular density a nd T-status were significant prognostic factors, p=0.0036 and p=0.0152 respectively.