Angiogenesis in stage IIIB squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix: reproducibility of measurement and preliminary outcome as a prognostic factor

This study was performed to determine the reliability and replicability of IMD analysis using the Factor VIII immunohistochemical method. The following purpose was determining the relationship between IMD and clinical outcome in individual cervical cancer patient treated with radical radiotherapy. Twenty nine patients with stage IIIB cervical cancer were enrolled. Phase one was performed by using two pieces of tissue biopsy from different locations in the tumor from each patient. The IMD value was counted by the two pathologists after counterstaining by Factor VIII immunohistochemical method. No interobserver disagreement between the two pathologists was found (correlation coefficient = 0.92, 95% CI 0.82-0.96 for the first piece of tissue and 0.85, 95% CI 0.67-0.93 for the second piece). There was no variability in the IMD between the 2 pieces of tissue specimens from different locations of the tumor Phase two followed to evaluate the relationship between IMD and clinical outcome in individual cervical cancer patients. Because of the small sample size, different patients' characteristics, different treatment protocol and short term follow up, there is no statistically significant conclusion.