DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i04.025

Pages: 1496-1501

Background: Metastatic spread of tumor cells is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among females. Aims and Objectives: (i) To determine the peritumoral lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion using immunohistochemistry (endothelial lymphatic marker, D2-40) in invasive mammary carcinomas and (ii) To correlate peritumoral lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion with other indicators of poor prognosis (Age, tumor size, topography, histology, grade, total lymph nodes identified, no. of lymph nodes positive for metastasis and lymph node ratio). Material and Methods: Thirty prospective cases of invasive breast carcinoma diagnosed on histopathological examination of breast tissue included in the study. Results: Mean age of patients was 51±12.40 years. Sixteen patients of <13 p-LVD had mean tumor size 4±2.69 and 14 patients of >13 p-LVD had tumor size 6±2.37 which was found to be statistically significant (p <0.05). Six patients had 2 positive lymphnodes, 5 had 3 lymphnodes, 1 had four, 4 each had 6 and 7 lymphnodes and 5 patients had >7 lymphnodes. In 2 patients, no positive lymphnode found. A total of 53.33% cases found to be positive and 46.66% negative on D2-40 staining for LVI. With regard to peritumoral LVD, we found maximum 6 patients with 7 p-LVD followed by 4 patients with 8 p-LVD, 3 patients with 13 and 19 p-LVD. Two patients each had 15, 16 and 20 p-LVD and 1 patient each had 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 23 p-LVD. Conclusion: This study supported the importance of peritumoral lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion assessment using D2-40 in breast cancer patients. The high positivity of peritumoral lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic vessel invasion correlated with other established prognostic measures like tumor size, number of lymphnode involved and lymphnode ratio. This highlights the use of this novel mar