Correlation between lymphatic vessel density and regional metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between lymphatic vessel density in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and regional metastasis.


METHODS
Intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatic densities (ILDs and PLDs, respectively) were determined by immunohistochemical staining of lymphatic endothelial cells with podoplanin in 62 patients surgically treated for tongue cancer. Clinicopathological variables were quantified, and their correlations with regional metastasis were assessed.


RESULTS
The rate of regional metastasis was significantly higher in patients with high ILD than that in those with low ILD (21/33, 63.6% vs 8/29, 27.5%; p = .006). Perineural invasion and lymphovascular invasion were also significantly correlated with regional metastasis. By multivariate analyses, ILD was the only variable identified to be significantly correlated with regional metastasis (p = .009). On the other hand, PLD showed no correlation with regional metastasis.


CONCLUSIONS
ILD showed a strong correlation with regional metastasis in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
Chung
Man Ki
MK
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Min
Jin-Young
JY
So
Yoon Kyoung
YK
Ko
Young-Hyeh
YH
Jeong
Han-Sin
HS
Son
Young-Ik
YI
Baek
Chung-Hwan
CH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult