Objectives: In this study, we determined the prognostic importance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A and C values and their relationship with tumor stages and neck lymp node involvement and also, the relationship between microvessel density and tumor stage in the pathologic specimens.
Patients and methods: Thirty-three male patients (mean age 57.8±7.2 years; range 49 to 69 years) who underwent surgical treatment for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and a control group of 13 healthy male subjects (mean age 54.2±6.1 years; range 41 to 62 years) were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: the early-stage group consisting of patients with T1 and T2 stage tumors and the advanced stage group including patients with T3 and T4 stage tumors. Patients are evaluated in terms of plasma VEGF-A and C levels before and six months after the surgery. In the pathologic specimens, CD 31 was used for immunohistochemical staining. For each patient the number of microvessels per millimeter square (microvessel density) was determined.
Results: The preoperative plasma VEBF-A levels of the patients with early-stage tumors were significantly lower compared to those of the control group, while there was no significant difference between the preoperative levels of the patients with advanced stage tumors and the levels of the control group. There was no significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative 6th month VEGF-A levels of the patients both in the early-stage and the advanced stage groups. The preoperative plasma VEGF-C values of the patients with lymph node involvement were significantly lower than those of the patients with early-stage tumors. There was no significant difference between the VEGF-C levels in pre- and postoperatively at six months after the operation of patients with lymph node involvement. There was no significant difference between the preoperative VEGF-C levels of the patients with lymph node involvement and those without lymph node involvement. No significant difference was found in microvessel density between the cases with early and advanced stage tumors.
Conclusion: It was seen that the plasma VEGF-A value did not increase in patients with laryngeal cancer and rather it is low in patients with early-stage disease. No relationship was found between the plasma VEGF-C values and cervical lymph node involvement.