Artículos de revistas
Expression of vascular endothelian growth factor-C does not predict occult lymphnode metastasis in early oral squamous cell carcinoma
Fecha
2008Registro en:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY, v.37, n.4, p.372-378, 2008
0901-5027
10.1016/j.ijom.2007.11.021
Autor
FAUSTINO, S. E. S.
OLIVEIRA, D. T.
NONOGAKI, S.
LANDMAN, G.
CARVALHO, A. L.
KOWALSKI, L. P.
Institución
Resumen
Strong vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) expression has been correlated to occurrence of lymph-node metastases in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The incidence of occult lymph-node metastasis remains a decisive factor in the prognosis of patients with early OSCC. The aim of this study was to evaluate VEGF-C expression as a predictor of occult lymph-node metastasis in OSCC. Eighty-seven patients with primary OSCC arising in the tongue or floor of mouth, clinically T1N0M0 or T2N0M0, with (pN+) and without (pN0) occult lymph-node metastases were analyzed for VEGF-C expression by malignant cells. Occult lymph-node metastases (pN+) were detected in 22% of the 64 patients who were submitted to elective neck dissection. No statistically significant difference was found between OSCC with and without occult lymph-node metastasis in regard to VEGF-C immunoexpression by malignant cells and clinicopathologic features. Independently of VEGF-C expression, lymph-node metastasis (PN+) was the most significant prognostic factor for overall survival of patients with OSCC (p = 0.030). These findings indicate that isolated VEGF-C expression by malignant cells is not of predictive value for occult lymph-node metastasis in the early stages of OSCC.