Angiogenesis is prognostically important in vertical growth phase melanomas.

The association between microvessel density (MVD) and patient survival has recently been established for various types of human cancers. Immunohistochemical staining (factor-VIII related antigen) was performed on a series of 102 vertical growth phase melanomas and vessels were counted in <hot spot> areas. Increased MVD was associated with large histologic tumor diameter (p=0.006) and tumor ulceration (p=0.04). Further, high vascular density was significantly related to decreased patient survival (p=0.04), with borderline significance (p=0.10) in the final multivariate model. The results of this study suggest that microvessel density is of prognostic importance in aggressive vertical growth phase melanomas.