Study on the clinical-pathological significance of microvessel density and vascular endothilial growth factor expression in primary liver cancer

Objective: To evaluate the clinical-pathological significance of intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) expression in primary liver cancer (PLC). Methods: A retrospective study from 63 postoperative patients all with small PLC (diameter ≤5 cm) was done. One group of 29 patients developed recurrence or metastasis within 2 years. The other group of 34 patients had no evidence of recurrence or metastasis within 2 years. Three sections were taken from each patient. One for H.E. staining, the other two for VEGF and Bio-UEA-I immunohistochemical staining respectively. MVD was counted by endothelial cells, which were highlighted by Bio-UEA-I. Results: The MVD of the recurrence (or metastasis) group (49.6±29.7) were significantly greater than the other, group (22.7±28.2) (P<0.01); The VEGF positive rate of the recurrence group was 86.2% (25/29), the rate of the other group was 47.1% (16/34). the difference between the 2 groups was stafistically significant (P<0.01). The stage of the tumor, the positive rate of satellite nodules and the positive rate of the portal vein embolus were all significantly different between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Besides tumor stage, satellite nodule and portal vein embolus, the MVD and VEGF are also of prognostic significance.