[Preliminary study on the correlation between neovasculature and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma by computer image analysis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the significance of neoangiogenesis in metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) so as to clarify further the role of neovascularity in evaluating the prognosis of NPC and the probability of antiangiogenesis in preventing distant metastasis of NPC.


METHODS
Fifty-two patients with metastatic NPC were selected and strictly matched in sex, age, T stage, and N stage with another 52 patients with non-metastatic NPC and survived a long time. The tumor tissues of all 104 patients were retrived for computer-assisted, immunohistochemical analysis of tumor vasculature.


RESULTS
Counts of microvessel and relative area of all microvessels per image were significantly higher in metastatic NPCs than those of curable, non-metastatic NPCs; while average area of microvessel and average perimeter of microvessel in metastatic NPCs were smaller than those of the opposite. No significant difference in any microvessel parameter had been found among various types of metastasis.


CONCLUSIONS
The alterations of microvessel parameters bore significant relationships with metastases of NPC. Evaluation of neovascularity with computer image analysis may help in estimating the prognosis of NPC and in finding out the indications for aggressive multimodal treatments. Angiogenesis inhibitors might be helpful in preventing NPC from distant metastasis.
Qian
C
C
Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Tumor Hospital, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510060.
Min
H
H
Liang
X
X
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011379:Prognosis