DIAGNOSIS OF VASCULAR INVASION USING VICT ORIA BLUE STAIN GALLBLADDERCARCINOMA

Background: The infiltration of venous blood vessels in gallbladder ca rcinoma and its importance as a prognostic factor has not been well st udied. Victoria blue stain has been used to identify vascular involvem ent in gastric and thyroidal carcinomas. Aim: To assess blood vessel i nfiltration using Victoria blue stain in gallbladder carcinomas. Mater ial and methods: One hundred forty eight samples of gallbladder carcin oma, coming from 24 men and 123 women aged 60.4 +/- 12.2 years old, we re studied. They were stained with Victoria blue stain to quantify blo od vessel invasion. Results: Twenty nine percent of tumors had blood v essel infiltration, 61% had lymph vessel and 20% had perineural infilt ration. Lymph vessel or perineural involvement was found in 81% and 31 % of those tumors with blood vessel infiltration, respectively. Perine ural infiltration was associated with lymph or vascular involvement in 93 and 40% of tumors, respectively. None of the early carcinomas had blood vessel infiltration, whereas 33% of advanced tumors had this typ e of infiltration (p< 0.001). No differences in vascular infiltration were observed according to the differentiation of the tumor. Conclusio ns: Blood vessel infiltration was observed only in advanced gallbladde r carcinomas and was tightly related to the degree of gallbladder wall infiltration. The presence of perineural infiltration was the best ma rker of lymph or blood vessel infiltration.