Morphometric analysis of nasopharyngeal angiofibromas

Whether recurrences of nasopharyngeal angiofibromas in some way is related to the amount and composition of the vascular components was studied by estimating the volume densities of the vascular lumen, the wall of thin-walled (lined only with endothelial cells) and thick-walled vessels (several cell-layers in the vascular wall) in seven cases of recurring and five non-recurring tumors. The volume density of the vascular compartment was less in recurring compared to non-recurring tumors, 4.3 +/- 2.6% and 8.0 +/- 2.6% respectively (p less than 0.05). The volume density of the wall of thin-walled vessels was 0.7 +/- 0.2% and 1.5 +/- 0.5% for recurring and non-recurring tumors respectively (p less than 0.01). Our findings suggest that nasopharyngeal angiofibromas may be subdivided into two subgroups with different clinical behavior.