Microscopic aspects of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Despite various great scientific and financial efforts, head and neck carcinomas represent a public health problem, being the eighth cause of cancer death worldwidely. The rate of tumor growth, its local expansion, as well as the metastasis of cancerous cells depend on the tumor vascularization, on the ability of blood vessels to provide a constant supply of nourishing substances and oxygen and to eliminate the residual products resulted from tumor growth. That is why angiogenesis and lymphogenesis are considered to be essential processes within the neoplastic process. The assessment of tumoral neoformed blood vessels in oral squamous carcinomas, using the CD34 antibody, showed a significant growth of the microvascular density, the average number being 504.66±177.65 vessels/mm². The diameter of angiogenesis vessels varied between 3.42 and 121.27 μm. The density of lymphogenesis vessels was 508.78±235.93 vessels/mm², while the diameter varied from 2.82 to 165.28 μm. Both angiogenesis and lymphogenesis vessels were more numerous in the areas where the inflammatory infiltrate was more abundant, which suggests that chronic inflammation plays the part of a promoter factor of neoplastic lesions.