MICROVESSEL DENSITY PREDICTS SURVIVAL IN PROSTATE-CANCER PATIENTS SUBJECTED TO WATCHFUL WAITING

biological potential of prostate cancer is highly variable and cannot be satisfactorily predicted by histopathological criteria alone. Angio genesis, the formation of new blood vessels, has been suggested to pro vide important prognostic information in prostate cancer. The aim of t his study was to investigate whether microvessel density (MVD) at diag nosis was correlated with disease-specific survival in a non-curative treated population of prostate cancer patients. MVD was immunohistoche mically (factor VIII-related antigen) quantified in archival tumours o btained at diagnosis in 221 prostate cancer patients. Median length of follow-up was 15 years. The maximal MVD was quantified inside a 0.25 mm(2) area of the tumour and the median MVD was 43 (range 16-151) mm(2 ). MVD was statistically significantly correlated with clinical stage (P < 0.0001) and histopathological grade (P < 0.0001). When dichotomiz ed by the median counts, MVD was shown to be significantly associated (P = 0.0001) with disease-specific survival in the entire population a s well as in the theoretically curable clinically localized subpopulat ion. A multivariate analysis demonstrated that MVD was a significant p redictor of disease-specific survival in the entire cancer population (P = 0.0004), as well as in the clinically localized cancer population (P < 0.0001), These findings suggest that quantitation of angiogenesi s reflects the spontaneous clinical outcome of prostate cancer.