The vascular density (VD) in stage-III tumors of the uterine cervix was determined by morphometric analysis of histologic, Masson-trichrome stained sections prepared from biopsies. In a retrospective study, VD was found to be related to results of radiotherapy, larger VD being associated with prolonged survival, in agreement with similar observations made earlier with stage-IB and -IIA tumors of the cervix. In a complementary study the variation of VD within tumors was investigated in relation to the variation between tumors using surgically removed cervical carcinomas in stage IB. Statistically significant F-ratios were calculated, suggesting a more or less individual pattern of vascularization of the tumors despite a considerable intra-tumoral heterogeneity of the vasculature. It is concluded that VD may reflect oxygenation of neoplastic tissue, and may have a predictive value in regard to the response of tumors to irradiation.
The stromal, parenchymal, and vascular cellular constituents were identified and their relative proportion determined in biopsy specimens derived from untreated uterine cervix carcinomas. In the stroma of the tumors that eventually responded well to radiation treatment resulting in a prolonged survival of the patients, the proportion of vascular cells was increased in comparison to the cases that were associated with a poor patient survival. The observations were interpreted in terms of the radiobiological oxygen effect reflecting the radiosensitivity variation of cells in tumor areas vascularized to varying extent. It was concluded that the determination of a tumor vascularity index as a routine parameter would be of a great prognostic value and would contribute to the characterization of individual tumors, leading to improved therapeutic efficiency.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.