The lymphatic system is part of the circulatory system and plays a key role in normal vascular function. Its failure plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of various diseases including liver diseases. Lymphangiogenesis (the growth of lymphatic vessels) and changes in the properties of lymphatic vessels are associated with pathogenesis of tumor metastases, ascites formation, li...

AIM to assess prognostic significance of pathologic features T1 rectal carcinoma in relation regional lymph nodes involvement (N+). MATERIAL AND METHODS : surgical specimens (n = 66) from resection for pT1 were investigated. Following prognosticators evaluated: depth submucosal invasion, grade differentiation, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), tumor budding (Bd), poorly differentiated clusters (PD...

The role of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in thyroid cancer pathogenesis has not been elucidated. Patterns for tumour behaviour and metastasic spread vary according to tumour type and whether differences in the angiogenic or lymphangiogenic phenotype influence the route for tumour metastases or determine a more aggressive behaviour has not been fully explored. The angiogenic and lymphangio...

Minimally invasive intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy has become the standard approach for staging the regional lymph nodes for early-stage melanoma. The procedure requires close collaboration of surgeon, pathologist, and nuclear medicine physician. The strength of lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy is its accuracy of detecting occult lymph node metastases. Revers...

Breast metastases from extramammary malignancies are uncommon. The most common sources are lymphomas/leukemias and melanomas. Some of the less common sources include carcinomas of the lung, ovary, and stomach, and infrequently, carcinoid tumors, hypernephromas, carcinomas of the liver, tonsil, pleura, pancreas, cervix, perineum, endometrium and bladder. Breast metastases from extramammary malig...

Human melanoma is a highly metastatic cancer and the regional lymph nodes are generally the first site of metastasis. Adhesion to cryostat sections of human Iymph nodes was therefore studied using two human melanoma models established from lymph node metastases, namely, MeWo cell lines of diverse metastatic potentials and a highly metastatic cell line of recent origin designated MIM/8. We found...

The spread of carcinoma to the vertebral bodies has been studied by the long vertebral slice technique. Vertebral secondaries were found in one third of all patients with carcinoma, and in almost one half of those dying with distant metastases. Haematogenous dissemination and direct lymphatic spread both appeared to produce vertebral metastases. Radiology and less effective investigation of the...

Malignant tumors release growth factors such as VEGF-C to induce lymphatic vessel expansion (lymphangiogenesis) in primary tumors and in draining sentinel LNs, thereby promoting LN metastasis. Surprising recent evidence suggests that lymphatic vessels do not merely represent passive channels for tumor spread, but that they may actively promote tumor cell recruitment to LNs, cancer stem cell sur...