PURPOSE: to evaluate the significance of neoangiogenesis for the prognosis of endometrial carcinoma, by quantifying and comparing the vessels with the grade of histologic differentiation and tumor staging. METHODS: the 56 studied cases consisted of 11 atrophic endometria, 10 proliferative endometria, 10 GI, 13 GII and 12 GIII adenocarcinomas. Two histologic sections were obtained for each case: one was stained with hematoxylin-eosin and the other was sent for a immunohistochemical study with anti-CD34. The utilized histometric method was vessel counting at the tumoral growth interface with the adjacent stroma, and in the control group, at the endometrial gland interface with the stroma. Couting was done by a KS300, evaluating 10 fields at 100X magnification. RESULTS: the counted vessel means were 11.6 for atrophic endometria, 13.2 for proliferative endometria, 15.3 for GI adenocarcinoma, 19 for GII adenocarcinoma, and 22.7 for GIII adenocarcinoma. In the group of stage I patients, it was observed that the mean number of vessels (18.6) was similar to that observed in stages II, III and IV (20.9) computed together. CONCLUSION: less differentiated adenocarcinomas were more angiogenic than well-differentiated carcinomas and normal endometrium. Vessel counting was not influenced by the disease stage as an isolated factor.
Angiogenesis; Adenocarcinoma; Endometrium
