title: Lymphangiogenic and angiogentic microvessel density in gallbladder carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis are essential for cancer metastasis. The aim of this study was to assess lymphatic microvessel density and microvessel density in human gallbladder carcinoma tissues, detect their correlation with the tumor's clinical pathological properties and evaluate their utilities for resection of gallbladder tumor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tissue microarray blocks containing primary gallbladder cancer and adjacent normal tissue specimens obtained from 118 patients with gallbladder carcinoma were constructed. Lymphatic microvessel density and microvessel density were quantified using immunohistochemistry. Survival was determined using univariate and multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Microvessel density correlated with tumor stage and liver metastasis (p < 0.01). Lymphatic microvessel density correlated with tumor stage (p < or = 0.01) and lymph node metastasis (p < or = 0.05).There was a very weak correlation between microvessel density and lymphatic microvesseldensity (p < 0.05, r = 0.282). In univariate and multivariate analysislymphatic microvessel density and microvessel density were independent prognostic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis played important rolein theprocesses of metastasis of gallbladder carcinoma. Measurements of lymphatic microvessel density and microvessel density can be used to estimate gallbladder cancer metastatic risk and provide some useful information for gallbladder carcinoma surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, the Kunshan First people's Hospital, Jiangsu University, Kunshan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yigang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Guanzhen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Houzhong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008833:Microcirculation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate