Correlation of microvessel parameters in invasive ductal carcinoma breast and fibroadenomas: a morphometric study

• Published in: Annals of diagnostic pathology 2016-12, Vol.25, p.72-78
• Main Authors: Boruah, Dibyajyoti, Bhatia, Jasvinder K, Rai, Abhishek, Srinivas, V, Nijhawan, V S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Breast Neoplasms - blood supply; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - blood supply; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - pathology; Female; Fibroadenoma - diagnosis; Fibroadenoma - pathology; Grade; Humans; Invasive ductal carcinoma; Microvessel; Microvessels - pathology; Middle Aged; Morphometry; Neovascularization, Pathologic - pathology; Pathology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1092-9134; 1532-8198
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2016.09.014

Abstract Introduction Modifications of microvascular configuration are essential features encountered during the progression of breast tumours. Our objectives were to correlate morphometrically evaluated microvessel parameters [microvessel density(MVD), microvessel caliber(VC), microvessel cross sectional area(VCSA), percentage of total VCSA (%TVCSA) and total microvessel boundary density(TVBD)] with histological grades of invasive ductal carcinoma breast(IDC) and benign breast lesions. Materials and Methods Sixty cases of IDC presented with modified radical mastectomy and 20 benign breast fibro-adenomas were evaluated for various microvessel parameters, using CD34-immunostained histological sections by computerized image morphometry. Samples were divided into four histological groups: Benign, Grade1, Grade2 and Grade3; mean with standard deviation and range was evaluated for each group. Results Histological grades showed strong positive correlation with %TVCSA(ρ = 0.773) and TVBD(ρ = 0.811), moderate positive correlation with MVD(ρ = 0.607), VC(ρ = 0.609) and VCSA(ρ = 0.616) when analyzed for all samples of the four groups. Except MVD, all parameters including age was the lowest ( P < .001) for the benign group. Among the IDCs, differences of mean VC and VCSA were not significant; MVD, %TVCSA and TVBD were the lowest in Grade1 and the highest in Grade3. Upper cutoff values of benign lesions for: MVD was 155 mm−2 , VC was 9.94 μm, VCSA was 94.42μm2 , %TVCSA was 1.33 and TVBD was 4.37 mm−1. Conclusion TVBD included the information of microvessels concentration and size showed the best correlation with grades. MVD showed positive correlation with grades in the IDCs; but for the differentiation of benign from malignant, VC, VCSA, %TVCSA and TVBD showed excellent area under the ROC curve (AUC> 0.990), unlike MVD (AUC = 0.797).