Vascular density is a predictor of cancer-specific survival in prostatic carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Microvessel density has been shown to give prognostic information in a variety of solid tumors, but its role in prostatic carcinoma needs further elucidation.


METHODS
Intratumoral density of von Willebrand factor-positive microvessels was assessed in 98 cases of prostatic carcinoma, diagnosed at transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) between 1975-1983, using two methods: 1) volume density of microvessels and 2) vascular count in the 2-3 most vascularized fields.


RESULTS
Volume density and vascular counts were highly correlated. In Kaplan-Meyer analysis, mean cancer-specific survival time for patients with a vascular count < 135 was significantly longer than for patients with a vascular count > 135 (P = 0.0064). The same results applied to patients with WHO grade II tumors (P = 0.01). Excluding metastasis in a multivariate analysis, both tumor stage and vascular count had an independent predictive value for cancer-specific survival in patients with WHO grade II tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
Microvessel density may predict cancer-specific survival in prostatic carcinoma.
Lissbrant
I F
IF
Department of Pathology, Umeå University, Sweden.
Stattin
P
P
Damber
J E
JE
Bergh
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008833:Microcirculation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis