Table 1. The table shows the association between intra- and peritumoural lymphatic vessel invasion, any lymphatic invasion, and invasion of any immunohistochemically stained vessel (both blood and lymphatic) with clinicopathological variables in melanoma.
| Category |
Lymphatic vessel invasion |
Any vessel invasion |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Intratumoural n (%) |
Peritumoural n (%) |
Any n (%) |
(IHC determined) n (%) |
|||||||||
| Absent | Present | P-value | Absent | Present | P-value | Absent | Present | P-value | Absent | Present | P-value | |
| Gender | ||||||||||||
| Female (n=99) | 78 (49) | 14 (42) | 0.47 | 76 (49) | 13 (48) | 0.91 | 68 (50) | 23 (46) | 0.63 | 64 (50) | 25 (45) | 0.61 |
| Male (n=103) | 80 (51) | 19 (58) | 78 (51) | 14 (52) | 68 (50) | 27 (54) | 65 (50) | 30 (55) | ||||
| Sentinal node biopsy (SNB) | ||||||||||||
| Negative (n=70) | 58 (37) | 8 (24) | 0.17 | 58 (38) | 8 (30) | 0.42 | 53 (39) | 13 (26) | 0.10 | 49 (38) | 14 (25) | 0.10 |
| Positive (n=132) | 100 (63) | 25 (76) | 96 (62) | 19 (70) | 83 (61) | 37 (74) | 80 (62) | 41 (75) | ||||
| Relapse status | ||||||||||||
| No (n=134) | 110 (71) | 18 (58) | 0.16 | 109 (72) | 15 (56) | 0.08 | 98 (73) | 29 (60) | 0.10 | 93 (73) | 31 (58) | 0.05 |
| Yes (n=62) | 45 (29) | 13 (42) | 42 (28) | 12 (44) | 36 (27) | 19 (40) | 34 (27) | 22 (41) | ||||
| Staging | ||||||||||||
| IA/IB (n=43) | 38 (25) | 2 (6) | 0.004* | 39 (26) | 1 (4) | <0.001* | 37 (28) | 3 (6) | <0.001* | 35 (28) | 3 (6) | <0.001* |
| IIA (n=11) | 10 (7) | 1 (3) | 10 (7) | 1 (4) | 9 (7) | 2 (4) | 8 (6) | 2 (4) | ||||
| IIB/IIC (n=12) | 7 (5) | 4 (12) | 6 (4) | 5 (19) | 5 (4) | 6 (12) | 5 (4) | 6 (12) | ||||
| IIIA (n=88) | 71 (47) | 13 (39) | 69 (47) | 8 (31) | 62 (47) | 17 (35) | 59 (47) | 20 (38) | ||||
| IIIB (n=41) | 26 (17) | 13 (39) | 24 (16) | 11 (42) | 18 (14) | 20 (42) | 18 (14) | 21 (40) | ||||
| Number of positive nodes | ||||||||||||
| 0 (n=70) | 58 (37) | 8 (24) | 0.34* | 58 (38) | 8 (30) | 0.05* | 53 (39) | 13 (26) | 0.16* | 49 (38) | 14 (25) | 0.09* |
| 1 or 2 (n=123) | 93 (59) | 23 (70) | 91 (59) | 15 (56) | 78 (57) | 33 (66) | 76 (59) | 36 (65) | ||||
| ⩾3 (n=9) | 7 (4) | 2 (6) | 5 (3) | 4 (15) | 5 (4) | 4 (8) | 4 (3) | 5 (9) | ||||
| Melanoma site | ||||||||||||
| Trunk (n=73) | 63 (40) | 9 (27) | 0.43* | 59 (38) | 8 (30) | 0.77* | 56 (41) | 13 (26) | 0.26* | 53 (41) | 16 (29) | 0.46* |
| Leg (n=67) | 52 (33) | 11 (33) | 48 (31) | 11 (41) | 42 (31) | 19 (38) | 39 (30) | 21 (38) | ||||
| Arm (n=45) | 32 (20) | 10 (30) | 35 (23) | 6 (22) | 28 (21) | 14 (28) | 28 (22) | 14 (25) | ||||
| Head/neck (n=17) | 11 (7) | 3 (9) | 12 (8) | 2 (7) | 10 (7) | 4 (8) | 9 (7) | 4 (7) | ||||
| Histological subtype | ||||||||||||
| Superficial spreading (n=141) | 120 (82) | 15 (45) | <0.001* | 121 (82) | 11 (46) | <0.001* | 111 (85) | 22 (47) | <0.001 | 106 (85) | 24 (48) | <0.001 |
| Nodular (n=37) | 20 (14) | 14 (42) | 19 (13) | 11 (46) | 13 (10) | 20 (43) | 13 (10) | 20 (40) | ||||
| Other (n=12) | 7 (5) | 4 (12) | 8 (5) | 2 (8) | 6 (5) | 5 (11) | 5 (4) | 6 (12) | ||||
| Breslow thickness (mm) | ||||||||||||
| ⩽1 (n=94) | 84 (53) | 4 (12) | <0.001* | 82 (53) | 5 (19) | 0.001 | 79 (58) | 8 (16) | <0.001 | 75 (58) | 10 (18) | <0.001 |
| >1 ⩽2 (n=79) | 58 (37) | 17 (52) | 55 (36) | 14 (52) | 45 (33) | 27 (54) | 42 (33) | 30 (55) | ||||
| >2 ⩽4 (n=29) | 16 (10) | 12 (36) | 17 (11) | 8 (30) | 12 (9) | 15 (30) | 12 (9) | 15 (27) | ||||
| Ulceration | ||||||||||||
| No (n=145) | 121 (80) | 15(47) | <0.001 | 119 (80) | 11 (42) | <0.001 | 109 (83) | 23 (48) | <0.001 | 103 (82) | 26 (50) | <0.001 |
| Yes (n=50) | 31 (20) | 17 (53) | 29 (20) | 15 (58) | 22 (17) | 25 (52) | 22 (18) | 26 (50) | ||||
| Mitotic rate (per mm2) | ||||||||||||
| <3 (n=68) | 62 (39) | 2 (6) | <0.001* | 57 (37.3) | 5 (18.5) | 0.09 | 55 (41) | 7 (14) | <0.001 | 52 (41) | 8 (15) | <0.001 |
| 3–7 (n=62) | 52 (33) | 6 (18) | 47 (30.7) | 8 (29.6) | 43 (32) | 13 (26) | 41 (32) | 14 (25) | ||||
| >7 (n=71) | 43 (37) | 25 (76) | 49 (32.0) | 14 (51.9) | 37 (27) | 30 (60) | 35 (27) | 33 (60) | ||||
| Perineural infiltration | ||||||||||||
| No (n=186) | 143 (98) | 32 (100) | 1.00* | 141 (98.6) | 25 (96.2) | 0.40* | 124 (98) | 47 (98) | 1.00* | 118 (98) | 50 (98) | 1.00* |
| Yes (n=3) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.4) | 1 (3.8) | 2 (2) | 1 (2) | 2 (2) | 1 (2) | ||||
| Regression | ||||||||||||
| No (n=171) | 128 (82) | 32 (97) | 0.03* | 131 (86.2) | 19 (70.4) | 0.04 | 114 (85) | 41 (82) | 0.61 | 107 (84) | 46 (84) | 0.917 |
| Yes (n=29) | 28 (18) | 1 (3) | 21 (13.8) | 8 (29.6) | 20 (15) | 9 (18) | 20 (16) | 9 (16) | ||||
| Microsatellites | ||||||||||||
| No (n=163) | 132 (90) | 23 (74) | 0.01 | 126 (88.7) | 21 (80.8) | 0.26 | 115 (91) | 36 (77) | 0.01 | 110 (92) | 38 (76) | 0.006 |
| Yes (n=25) | 14 (10) | 8 (26) | 16 (11.3) | 5 (19.2) | 11 (9) | 11 (23) | 10 (8) | 12 (24) | ||||
| Tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) | ||||||||||||
| Absent (n=52) | 41 (26) | 9 (28) | 0.41* | 42 (27.6) | 5 (18.5) | 0.23* | 36 (27) | 12 (24) | 0.19* | 32 (25) | 16 (30) | 0.19* |
| Non-brisk (n=126) | 96 (62) | 22 (69) | 92 (60.5) | 21 (77.8) | 81 (60) | 35 (71) | 79 (62) | 36 (67) | ||||
| Brisk (n=19) | 18 (12) | 1 (3) | 18 (11.8) | 1 (3.7) | 17 (13) | 2 (4) | 16 (13) | 2 (4) | ||||
The number of observations, percentage shown in parentheses (%), and the respective P-values are shown resultant from Pearson's χ2-test of association (χ2), or Fisher's exact test, in which the frequency of observations in a cell was less than 5 (indicated with *). Statistically significant P-values are indicated by bold font.