Peritumoral blood and lymphatic vessel invasion as a prognostic indicator in stage-I breast-carcinoma.

Between 1978 and 1986 we treated 318 consecutive patients with stage I breast cancer. Median follow-up time is 8.5 years. In all cases the invasion of peritumoral lymphatic (LVI) and blood vessels (BVI) was studied by the hematoxylin-eosin staining method. Different ten-year survival (86% vs 67%) and disease-free survival (82% vs 61%) probabilities were found in patients with or without LVI. BVI showed low sensitivity and specificity, therefore vessel invasion was reassessed on 190 specimens with the immunoperoxidase technique using the Ulex Europeus Type 1 lectine. A significant correlation between the vessel staining intensity and the presence of intraluminal metastases was found. With this method a better sensitivity was obtained, but it was associated with a loss of specificity and prognostic significance.