The Correlation Of Lymphatic Vessel Density And Lymphatic Vessel Invasion With The Lymph Node Metastasis In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective:To investigate the correlation of lymphatic vessel density(LVD)and lymphatic vessel invasion(LVI) with the clinicopathological parametersTNM stage and lymph node metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods:Paraffin sections of66patients with nasopharyngeal carcinomawere stained for immunohistochemistry with D2-40monoclonal antibody andPan-cytokeratin(CKpan).Paraffin sections of30patients with mildnasopharyngitis tissues were examined as control.The LVD and LVI weredetected, and their correlation with the lymph node metastasis andclinicopathological were analyzed.Results:The LVD in nasopharyngeal carcinoma were significantly higherthan the control group（5.42±1.87vs4.53±1.38，P＜0.05）；The peritumoral LVDin nasopharyngeal carcinoma were significantly higher than intratumoral LVD（7.08±2.97vs3.76±1.82，P＜0.01）；Compared wiht the non-lymph nodeinvolvement group,peritumoral pLVD was increased in patients with lymphnode metastsis（5.27±1.03vs7.44±3.10,P＜0.05）;pLVD was increased with theN stage of tumor（γ=0.480，P=0.000）；No differences obviously of the pLVD was founded between age,sex,metastasis,T and clinical stages(P＞0.05);Thepatients less than49yesr old had a significantly higher of the intratumoral LVD（4.29±1.90vs3.23±1.59,P＜0.05）；There was no correlations were observedbetween the intratumoral LVD with sex,metastasis,T and clinical stages(P＞0.05).Of the66NPC cases the positive rate of LVI was63.6%（42/66）;A higherN stages the patients have,a higher LVI could be found(P＜0.01）;The LVIshowed a correlation wiht the T and clinical stages(P<0.05),but no correlationwith age,sex and the M stage（P＞0.05）; The patients with lymph node metastsiscompared wiht the non-lymph node involvement group had a significantlyhigher positive rate of LVI（P＜0.01）; LVI had a sensitivity of74.5%,Specificity of90.9%,positive predictive value of97.8%and a negativepredictive value of58.3%for assessment of the lymph node metastsis in NPC.LVI has a positive correllation with the peritumoral LVD（r=0.349，P=0.004），but no correllation with the intratumoral LVD（P＞0.05）;...