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6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999 |
A145
The angiogenis-inducing capacity of malignant tumours is regarded as
an important factor influencing metastatic behaviour. For squamous cell
carcinomas (SCC) of the head and neck there is no consensus concerning
the relation between microvessel density (MVD) and metastatic behaviour.
The aim of this study is to disclose the relation between metastasis and
MVD, size and shape parameters of vessels. Histological sections of 20
metastasized and 20 non-metastasized SCC's of the mobile tongue were
assessed. The vessels were immunohistochemically visualized with CD34,
and the horseradish peroxidase catalysed deposition of biotinylated tyramine
at sites of immunoreactivity was used as a signal amplification system
(CARD amplification). The tumours were systematically sampled with 40 to 60
test-fields of 0.17 sq. mm. The digitized images were stored on M.O. disk.
The 5 most vascularized test-fields were used to calculate the mean values
of MVD, size and shape parameters of the vessel profiles. The major results
and conclusions of our study are: 1. CARD amplification was needed for a
reliable segmentation of vessels by true colour image analysis. 2. In the
group of non-metastasized tumours the MVD (37.5 ± 9.4) was significantly
(p=0.003) greater than in the group of metastasized tumours (28.6 ± 8.5).
3. Vessels with a diameter greater than 7 µm were overrepresented in the
group of metastasized tumours, and the percentage of vessels with a diameter
in the range of 7 - 9 µm was significantly (p=0.05) greater in the group of
metastasized tumours. 4. Measurement of MVD, size and shape parameters could
not be used to obtain a reliable predictor for the presence of metastasis;
we found 35% misclassifications in the group of non-metastasized and 30%
misclassifications in the group of metastasized tumours.
AN IMAGE ANALYSIS STUDY ON MICROVESSEL DENSITY IN METASTASIZED AND
NON-METASTASIZED TONGUE CARCINOMAS
Van Der Laak J, Hannen E, Cuijpers V, Slootweg P, Manni J, Hanselaar A,
De Wilde P
Dept.Pathology, University Hospital Nijmegen, Netherlands