Angiogenesis and some prognostic parameters of invasive ductal breast carcinoma in women.

The purpose of the study was to correlate angiogenesis parameters (microvessel count, area and perimeter) with some clinical and morphological factors in 251 invasive ductal breast carcinomas in women. Endothelium was stained with antiCD31 antibody, and measurements were made using a computerised image analysis in the whole study population and separately for two subgroups with and without metastases to axillary lymph nodes. High angiogenesis parameters in primary tumours were associated with older age, large tumour diameter, high grade and the associations were statistically significant. Furthermore the microvessel density was significantly higher in tumours metastasising to lymph nodes as compared with tumours without metastases. Microvessel perimeter was found to be the most useful of vessel parameters analysed. The correlation between angiogenesis and some clinical and morphological parameters, especially lymph node status may indicate the prognostic value of angiogenesis in invasive ductal breast carcinomas.