Vascular fractal dimension and total vascular area in the study of oral cancer

Background Microvessel quantification has been studied extensively as a factor reflecting angiogenesis in various malignant tumors. The aim of our study was to evaluate the vascular fractal dimension and the immunohistochemically positive total vascular area in oral cavity carcinomas in order to ass...

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Published in:Head & neck 2009-03, Vol.31 (3), p.298-307
Main Authors: Goutzanis, Lampros P., Papadogeorgakis, Nikolaos, Pavlopoulos, Petros M., Petsinis, Vasilis, Plochoras, Ioannis, Eleftheriadis, Efstathios, Pantelidaki, Aikaterini, Patsouris, Efstratios, Alexandridis, Constantinos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
angiogenesis
Biological and medical sciences
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - blood supply
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology
Case-Control Studies
Female
fractal dimension
Fractals
Humans
image analysis
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Male
Medical sciences
Models, Biological
Mouth Mucosa - blood supply
Mouth Neoplasms - blood supply
Mouth Neoplasms - pathology
Neovascularization, Pathologic
Neovascularization, Physiologic
oral cancer
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology
Retrospective Studies
total vascular area
Tumors
Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology
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Summary:Background Microvessel quantification has been studied extensively as a factor reflecting angiogenesis in various malignant tumors. The aim of our study was to evaluate the vascular fractal dimension and the immunohistochemically positive total vascular area in oral cavity carcinomas in order to assess their potential value as factors reflecting angiogenesis. Methods Histologic sections from 48 carcinomas and 17 nonmalignant mucosa specimens were evaluated by image analysis using fractal analysis software. Total vascular area was also quantified. Results Carcinomas presented higher mean values of vascular fractal dimension and total vascular area compared to normal mucosa. The difference for the vascular fractal dimension was statistically significant. Conclusions This study provides evidence that vascular fractal dimension could be used as a reliable factor reflecting angiogenesis in oral squamous cell carcinoma and that there are several statistically significant correlations among total vascular area, vascular fractal dimension, nuclear size, and clinicopathologic factors. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2009
ISSN:1043-3074
1097-0347
DOI:10.1002/hed.20959