Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C in preoperative biopsy specimens and metastatic foci of regional lymph nodes in submucosal gastric carcinoma

Table 3 The location of tumor cells in metastatic nodes and VEGF-C expression in 15 node positive patients.

Case	VEGF-C expression		definition of metastasis**	Detection method*	location of tumor cells
	biopsy specimens#	metastatic nodes
1	-	-	ITC	H.E.	marginal
2	-	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	ITC	H.E.	marginal
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
3	-	-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
		-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
		-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
4	-	-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
		-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
5	+ +	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
		-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
		-	macrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
6	+	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
7	+	+	micrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	ITC	H.E.	marginal
		+	ITC	H.E.	marginal
8	+ +	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	micrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	micrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
9	+	-	ITC	H.E.	marginal
		-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
10	+ +	-	micrometastasis	H.E.	marginal
11	+ + +	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		-	micrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
12	+ + +	+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
		+	macrometastasis	H.E.	medullary
13	-	-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
14	+ +	-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal
15	+	-	ITC	I.H.C.	marginal

*:IHC means immunohistochemical staining with anti-cytochelatin mAb.
**:Micrometastasis is defined as tumor deposit larger than 0.2 mm but less than 2.0 mm, and ITC (isolated tumor cell) is defined as tumor deposit less than 0.2 mm in the maximum diameter. Larger deposits were classified as macrometastasis.
#: The number of +/- means the number of examined biopsy specimens obtained from different parts of the tumor.

ISSN: 1477-7819