[Tumor vascular invasion in breast carcinoma. Hematoxylin-eosin versus immunohistochemical staining for factor VIII antigen].

Blood vessel invasion was investigated with haematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical staining for factor VIII antigen (F VIII) in 106 patients with primary carcinoma of the breast, in order to compare their value in prognosticating the probability of recurrence. Blood vessel invasion was diagnosed in 65 cases (61.9%) by HE, but in only 45 (43.4%) by F VIII staining. Lymph-node status and blood vessel invasion correlated positively on HE (r = 0.73; P = 0.0001), but not so on F VIII staining. Multivariate logistic regression showed blood vessel invasion to be a strongly independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival with F VIII staining (odds ratio: = 7.19; P = 0.0001), while HE staining was not independent from other prognostic factors. These preliminary data thus suggest that demonstrating vascular invasion by F VIII staining may identify those patients with a very high risk of recurrence, independent of lymph-node status.