Lymphovascular invasion (LVI or lymphovascular space invasion) is the invasion of a cancer to the blood vessels and/or lymphatics.
Lymphovascular invasion (LVI or lymphovascular space invasion) is the invasion of a cancer to the blood vessels and/or lymphatics.
Lymph: A clear or white fluid that travels through vessels, moves within tissues and work to keep all the parts of the body clean. Vascular: The body's network of blood vessels. When cancer spreads to lymph and vascular system, it is thus termed as Lymphovascular Invasion.
Lymphovascular invasion, especially in carcinomas, usually precedes spread to the lymph nodes that drain the tissue in which the tumour arose. Conversely, cancers with lymph node spread (known as a lymph node metastases), usually have lymphovascular invasion. Lymph node metastases usually precede secondary tumours, i.e. distant metastases.
The absence of LVI in the context of proven lymph node metastasis is usually thought to be due to sampling error. [1]
The predictive value and prevalence of lymphovascular invasion is strongly dependent on the type of cancer. In other words, LVI in one type of cancer may be much less important than LVI in another type of cancer.
Generally speaking, it is associated with lymph node metastases [2] [3] which themselves are predictive of a poorer prognosis. [4] In the context of (histologically) proven lymph node metastases, LVI may have less prognostic significance or no prognostic significance.
Whether LVI is a significant prognostic factor in breast cancer is widely debated, and there is no clear consensus. [5] [6]
In urothelial carcinoma, LVI is an independent predictor of a poorer prognosis that has more predictive power than tumour stage. [7]
In sporadic colorectal carcinoma, LVI of a poorer prognosis. [8]
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, are metastases (mets). It is generally distinguished from cancer invasion, which is the direct extension and penetration by cancer cells into neighboring tissues.
Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become malignant.
Laryngeal cancer or throat cancer is a kind of cancer that can develop in any part of the larynx. It is typically a squamous-cell carcinoma, reflecting its origin from the epithelium of the larynx.
The TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors (TNM) is a globally recognised standard for classifying the anatomical extent of the spread of malignant tumours (cancer). It has gained wide international acceptance for many solid tumor cancers, but is not applicable to leukaemia or tumors of the central nervous system. Most common tumors have their own TNM classification. The TNM staging system is sometimes referred to as the AJCC/UICC staging system or the UICC/AJCC staging system.
Keratin 20, often abbreviated CK20, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the KRT20 gene.
Invasive carcinoma of no special type, invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) or invasive ductal carcinoma, not otherwise specified (NOS) is a disease. For international audiences this article will use "invasive carcinoma NST" because it is the preferred term of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The sentinel lymph node is the hypothetical first lymph node or group of nodes draining a cancer. In case of established cancerous dissemination it is postulated that the sentinel lymph nodes are the target organs primarily reached by metastasizing cancer cells from the tumor.
MammaPrint is a prognostic and predictive diagnostic test for early stage breast cancer patients that assess the risk that a tumor will metastasize to other parts of the body. It gives a binary result, high-risk or low-risk classification, and helps physicians determine whether or not a patient will benefit from chemotherapy. Women with a low risk result can safely forego chemotherapy without decreasing likelihood of disease free survival. MammaPrint is part of the personalized medicine portfolio marketed by Agendia.
Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common type of thyroid cancer, representing 75 percent to 85 percent of all thyroid cancer cases. It occurs more frequently in women and presents in the 20–55 year age group. It is also the predominant cancer type in children with thyroid cancer, and in patients with thyroid cancer who have had previous radiation to the head and neck. It is often well-differentiated, slow-growing, and localized, although it can metastasize.
Signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) is a rare form of highly malignant adenocarcinoma that produces mucin. It is an epithelial malignancy characterized by the histologic appearance of signet ring cells.
Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) is a cancer that is determined to be at the metastatic stage at the time of diagnosis, but a primary tumor cannot be identified. A diagnosis of CUP requires a clinical picture consistent with metastatic disease and one or more biopsy results inconsistent with a tumor cancer
C-fos-induced growth factor (FIGF) is a vascular endothelial growth factor that in humans is encoded by the FIGF gene.
A metastasis suppressor is a protein that acts to slow or prevent metastases from spreading in the body of an organism with cancer. Metastasis is one of the most lethal cancer processes. This process is responsible for about ninety percent of human cancer deaths. Proteins that act to slow or prevent metastases are different from those that act to suppress tumor growth. Genes for about a dozen such proteins are known in humans and other animals.
In oncology, metastasectomy is the surgical removal of metastases, which are secondary cancerous growths that have spread from cancer originating in another organ in the body.
Breast cancer classification divides breast cancer into categories according to different schemes criteria and serving a different purpose. The major categories are the histopathological type, the grade of the tumor, the stage of the tumor, and the expression of proteins and genes. As knowledge of cancer cell biology develops these classifications are updated.
A brain metastasis is a cancer that has metastasized (spread) to the brain from another location in the body and is therefore considered a secondary brain tumor. The metastasis typically shares a cancer cell type with the original site of the cancer. Metastasis is the most common cause of brain cancer, as primary tumors that originate in the brain are less common. The most common sites of primary cancer which metastasize to the brain are lung, breast, colon, kidney, and skin cancer. Brain metastases can occur in patients months or even years after their original cancer is treated. Brain metastases have a poor prognosis for cure, but modern treatments are allowing patients to live months and sometimes years after the diagnosis.
Lymph node metastasis is the spread (metastasis) of cancer cells into a lymph node.
Cervical cancer staging is the assessment of cervical cancer to determine the extent of the disease. This is important for determining disease prognosis and treatment. Cancer staging generally runs from stage 0, which is pre-cancerous or non-invasive, to stage IV, in which the cancer has spread throughout a significant part of the body.
Colon cancer staging is an estimate of the amount of penetration of a particular cancer. It is performed for diagnostic and research purposes, and to determine the best method of treatment. The systems for staging colorectal cancers depend on the extent of local invasion, the degree of lymph node involvement and whether there is distant metastasis.
Mammary secretory carcinoma (MSC), also termed secretory carcinoma of the breast, is a rare form of the breast cancers. MSC usually affects women but in a significant percentage of cases also occurs in men and children. Indeed, McDvitt and Stewart first described MSC in 1966 and termed it juvenile breast carcinoma because an increased number of cases were at that time diagnosed in juvenile females. MSC is the most common form of breast cancer in children, representing 80% of childhood breast cancers, although it accounts for less than 0.15% of all breast cancers.