For three years duration( Jan 2009 – Des 2011) , 50 cases of ER positive cases and 50 cases of ER negative cases were collected among mastectomy samples from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast which were received by the department of histopathology in AL -Hilla teaching hospital. microvessel density (MVD) estimation for all cases using CD – 31 & VWF immunostain, and the quantitative analyses of the microvessels in the 10 high power fields revealed the median for vessels count identified by anti-CD31 in ER-positive & ER- negative groups were( 18, 30) respectively, while median MVD as it expressed by anti-VWF in ER-positive & ER-negative groups were (19, 33) respectively. There were greater concentrations of microvessels stained brown by both antibodies (CD31 & VWF) in estrogen receptors- negative group compared to the estrogen receptors – positive group. This difference was statistically significant (p< 0.001) .The highest values of MVD were obtained using anti-VWF other than anti-CD31 & the median MVD was significantly different between those two antibodies (p <0.005). So the
conclusion is that, high vessels count represent increased tumor angiogenesis and correlated with estrogen status, and tumor grade. Microvessels quantitation may be an additional prognostic factor especially when it combined with more established parameters like estrogen receptor status.
