PURPOSE: Vascular enumeration has been claimed to be an independent prognosticator for invasive breast cancer. Most of the studies have performed a manual count of the vessels. Few investigators have used image analyzers to reduce subjectivity in the measures. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the manual vessel count to the counts obtained with an image analyzer and to estimate their possible prognostic influence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected 112 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma, treated with radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and with a minimal follow-up time of 60 months (5 years). After immunostaining with factor VIII, we performed a double count of the vessels. First, we performed a manual count following Gasparini's criteria, and second, we used an image analyzer (Microm, Barcelona, Spain) to count the vessels in eight adjacent microscopic fields with a 20x objective, to reach a total area of 0.98 mm2. The image analyzer calculated the total number of vessels, their size and also the percentage of the field occupied by the vessels. RESULTS: In our series, vascular enumeration showed no significant association with histologic grade (Bloom-Scarff-Richardson grading), tumor size, or staging. CONCLUSION: Vascular enumeration with both methods was an independent prognosticator for relapse-free-survival (RFS) in both node-negative and -positive patients in the univariate analysis, but only vascular enumeration with the image analyzer was an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis, together with lymph node metastases.
PURPOSE: Vascular enumeration has been claimed to be an independent prognosticator for invasive breast cancer. Most of the studies have performed a manual count of the vessels. Few investigators have used image analyzers to reduce subjectivity in the measures. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the manual vessel count to the counts obtained with an image analyzer and to estimate their possible prognostic influence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected 112 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma, treated with radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and with a minimal follow-up time of 60 months (5 years). After immunostaining with factor VIII, we performed a double count of the vessels. First, we performed a manual count following Gasparini's criteria, and second, we used an image analyzer (Microm, Barcelona, Spain) to count the vessels in eight adjacent microscopic fields with a 20x objective, to reach a total area of 0.98 mm2. The image analyzer calculated the total number of vessels, their size and also the percentage of the field occupied by the vessels. RESULTS: In our series, vascular enumeration showed no significant association with histologic grade (Bloom-Scarff-Richardson grading), tumor size, or staging. CONCLUSION: Vascular enumeration with both methods was an independent prognosticator for relapse-free-survival (RFS) in both node-negative and -positive patients in the univariate analysis, but only vascular enumeration with the image analyzer was an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis, together with lymph node metastases.
Authors: Abby B Siegel; Shuang Wang; Judith S Jacobson; Dawn L Hershman; Emerson A Lim; Jeanette Yu; Lauren Ferrante; Kalpana M Devaraj; Helen Remotti; Shannon Scrudato; Karim Halazun; Jean Emond; Lorna Dove; Robert S Brown; Alfred I Neugut Journal: Cancer Invest Date: 2010-12 Impact factor: 2.176
Authors: Kathrin Niemöller; Christian Jakob; Ulrike Heider; Ivana Zavrski; Jan Eucker; Olaf Kaufmann; Kurt Possinger; Orhan Sezer Journal: J Cancer Res Clin Oncol Date: 2003-04-17 Impact factor: 4.553
Authors: G Pruneri; F Bertolini; D Soligo; N Carboni; A Cortelezzi; P F Ferrucci; R Buffa; G Lambertenghi-Deliliers; F Pezzella Journal: Br J Cancer Date: 1999-12 Impact factor: 7.640