Relationship between microvessel count and clinicopathological characteristics and postoperative survival in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.

Abstract

The present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between microvessel count (MVC) according to CD34 expression and clinicopathological characteristics or prognosis in pancreatic carcinoma (PC) patients who underwent hepatectomy. CD34 expression was analyzed using immunohistochemical methods. Mean MVC in 5 areas per specimen and clinicopathological factors were consecutively examined in 42 PC patients. Median MVC for PC patients was 123/mm2, which was applied as a cut-off value. Higher MVC was significantly associated with the advanced Japanese tumor-node-metastasis stage IVa and IVb (p=0.034). Univariate survival analysis identified higher carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CA19-9 level, infiltrative type on macroscopic examination, invasive ductal carcinoma, node metastasis and higher tumor-node-metastasis classification were significantly associated with poor survival. The 5-year overall survival rate in the higher MVC group tended to be lower than that in the higher MVC group (37 vs. 55%), but not statistically significant (p=0.15). Tumor MVC might be a candidate prognostic marker of PC patient survival after pancreatectomy and further investigation in a larger series is warranted to clarify the significance of this marker.