[A clinicopathological study of angiogenesis in breast cancer]

To evaluate the clinicopathological significance and the objective methods for angiogenesis, we immunohistochemically stained all of the regions around the cancer nests with Factor VIII-related antigen staining. We also identified microvessels in the many areas all along the border between cancer nests and the stroma by 200 x power field. We then examined the relationship between the average microvessel count (AC/mm2) and clinicopathological factors and between a 10-year cumulative survival rate in 109 cases of primary breast cancer from 1971 to 1979. There were an average of 35 fields counted among all the cases, and AC was 39.1 +/- 16.1. AC without blood vessel invasion was 36.4 +/- 15.2, while AC with blood vessel invasion was 44.7 +/- 16.6 (p < 0.02). AC without node metastasis or with n1 alpha was 37.6 +/- 15.4, while AC with n1 beta or n2 or n3 was 45.2 +/- 17.4 (p < 0.05). There was no relationship between AC and clinical tumor size, histological classification, lymphatic invasion, nuclear grade, and histological extension. A 10-year cumulative survival rate in AC (> or = 39) was 62.4%, while that in AC (< 39) was 82.7% (p < 0.03). Thus AC was considered a useful prognostic factor.