Table 4. Associations of lymph node metastasis with expression of VEGFs.
| Characteristics | No. of Cases | Lymph Node Metastases | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Negative | |||
| No. of Cases | 44 | 19 | 25 | |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 33 | 15 | 18 | 0.7315 |
| Female | 11 | 4 | 7 | |
| Age, y | ||||
| ≧60 | 21 | 9 | 12 | >0.9999 |
| <60 | 23 | 10 | 13 | |
| T-status | ||||
| late T2 | 38 | 17 | 21 | 0.6843 |
| T3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | |
| Depth of invasion (mm) | ||||
| ≧11 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 0.2227 |
| <11 | 24 | 8 | 16 | |
| VEGF-A expression | ||||
| High | 21 | 12 | 9 | 0.1271 |
| Low | 23 | 7 | 16 | |
| VEGF-C expression | ||||
| High | 22 | 10 | 12 | >0.9999 |
| Low | 22 | 9 | 13 | |
| VEGF-D expression | ||||
| High | 21 | 15 | 6 | 0.0006 |
| Low | 23 | 4 | 19 | |
| VEGFR3 expression | ||||
| High | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0.5434 |
| Low | 22 | 8 | 14 | |
| VEGF-C & VEGFR3 expressions | ||||
| High | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0.7350 |
| Low | 32 | 13 | 19 | |
| VEGF-D & VEGFR3 expressions | ||||
| High | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0.0025 |
| Low | 30 | 8 | 22 | |
VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR3, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3. The development of nodal metastasis and its correlation with clinicopathological parameters were analyzed with Fisher's exact test. Patients with positive sentinel lymph node metastasis, non-sentinel lymph node metastasis, or nodal recurrence were defined as lymph node metastasis-positive cases.