TUMOR ANGIOGENESIS AND MODE OF METASTASIS IN PATIENTS WITH COLORECTAL-CANCER

Neovascularization promotes tumor growth by facilitating nutrient exch ange and by the paracrine effect. To investigate the relationship betw een tumor angiogenesis and patient outcome in colorectal cancer, 133 p rimary tumors were immunostained for CD34 antigen, Blood vessels withi n five microscopic fields at x200 were counted, and the mean was assig ned, Mean patient age was 62.9 years, mean follow-up was 56.4 months, and mean vessel count was 112 (range, 23-298). Cox proportional hazard s model and multivariate logistic regression analyses shelved that the vessel count was the most important prognostic factor and correlated significantly with hematogenous, but not peritoneal or Lymph node, met astasis.