MORPHOLOGICAL AND QUANTITATIVE STUDY ON STROMAL MICROVASCULATURE OF NASOPHARYNGEAL PRECANCEROUS LESIONS

The stromal microvasculature in 27 cases of nasopharyngeal precancerous lesions (NPP) were studied for morphological features and parameter quantitation by computerized image analysis system. FVIIIR:Ag was used as a vascular endothelium marker to show the blood vessels by immunohistochemistry. The microscopic and quantitative results show that most cases (79%) had hyperplastic abnormal blood vessels similar to the stromal neovascularization of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). These findings suggest that angiogenesis may be a prerequisite to cancerous transformation of nasopharyngeal epithelium, and that cases of NPP with neovascularization have a high tendency to cancerous transformation.