THE RELATIONSHIP OF MICROVESSEL COUNTS TO TUMOR SIZE, ESTROGEN-RECEPTOR STATUS, LYMPH-NODE METASTASIS, AND DISEASE-FREE SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH STAGE-I AND STAGE-II BREAST-CANCER
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- Published online on: December 1, 1994 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.5.6.1437
- Pages: 1437-1445
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Abstract
Angiogenesis in early stage breast cancer has been suggested to be an independent prognostic factor for metastasis and overall survival. We retrospectively studied 316 cases of early breast cancer with a mean follow-up period of 94 months to determine the role of angiogenesis as a prognostic factor in breast cancer utilizing a Factor VIII immuno-histochemical assay. In a univariate analysis, patients with microvessel counts in the lower 25th percentile had significantly better overall disease-free survival than patients in the upper quartiles (p<0.017). In a multivariate analysis of disease-free survival, microvessel counts did not add to prognostic information when controlling for estrogen receptor status and lymph node status, but did add prognostic information when controlling for tumor size.