Table 2.

Incidence of LVI and BVI in breast cancer and the impact on patient survival

# of Study	# of Patients	% Invasiona		Comments	P valuec	Reference
		LVIb	BVIb
1	1,408	34.2	4.2	LVI and BVI were both indicators of poor survival	P=0.001	[2]
1	1,408	34.2	4.2	Multivariate analysis showed that LVI is a strong prognostic indicator of significantly increased risk of death in both LNb positive and negative patients whereas BVI has no prognostic value	P=0.001	[2]
2	1,258	27.6	NDd	LVI was a highly significant independent predictor of disease outcome	P<0.0001	[49]
3	374	28.0	ND	LVI presented as an independent prognostic parameter for DFSb as well as OSb	P=0.001	[50]
4	303	27.0	ND	Multivariate analysis revealed that LVI was the only significant predictor of distal recurrence. LVI was significantly associated with shorter overall survival	P=0.009	{3497}
5	177	96.4	3.5	LVI was strongly associated with LN metastasis, distant metastasis, decreased DFS and OS	P<0.001	[36]
6	123	28.5	15.4	LVI but not BVI positively correlated with tumor cell Ki67 score and other markers associated with poor prognosis	Not assessede	[42]
7	95	69.5	37.9	When LVI and BVI were both present, 80% of the invaded vessels were of lymphatic origin	Not assessed	[44]

^a% Invasion is presented as a fraction of cases in which tumor cells were immunohistochemically in the lumen of lymphatic or blood vessels.

^bAbbreviations: LN, lymph node; LVI, lymphatic vascular invasion; BVI, blood vascular invasion; DFS, disease-free survival; OS, overall survival.

^cP values for association of LVI disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

^dND, not determined.

^eAssociation of LVI or BVI with patient survival was not assessed in this study.