title: Implications of morphologic patterns of intraepithelial microvasculature observed by narrow-band imaging system in cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the intraepithelial microvascular morphology of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) by using narrow-band imaging (NBI) and analyze whether the intraepithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL) patterns correlate with infiltration depth and disease severity in OSCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinicopathologic data, morphology of vascular architecture as observed by NBI, and histopathology of patients with OSCC were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 80 patients, including 73 males and 7 females with an average age of 54.18±12.23 years, were enrolled. Three patterns of intraepithelial microvasculature were revealed by NBI and differences in these three patterns were significant with regard to pathologic T-classification (p<0.0001), N-classification (p=0.00022), TNM stage (p<0.0001), lymphovascular invasion (p<0.0001), perineural invasion (p=0.000299), depth of tumor infiltration (p<0.0001), and tumor differentiation (p<0.0001). A cut-off point of tumor infiltration of 10.012 mm was best predicted for the destructive pattern of IPCL (sensitivity=100%, specificity=90.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Three different patterns of IPCL, showing step-wise increased severity according to pathologic parameters, were observed by NBI in cases of OSCC. The pattern indicating IPCL destruction with angiogenesis was associated with more advanced disease stage.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, and School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC. sweeyang@gmail.com
authors: Shih-Wei
authors: SW
authors: Yang
authors: Yun-Shien
authors: YS
authors: Lee
authors: Liang-Che
authors: LC
authors: Chang
authors: Tsan-Yu
authors: TY
authors: Hsieh
authors: Tai-An
authors: TA
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002196:Capillaries / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D055806:Microvessels / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D062048:Narrow Band Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity