Table 4.

Lymphatic vessel density distribution in adjacent tissues and clinicopathological features

Clinicopathological features	n	LVD	P‐value
Gender
Male	45	11.3 ± 4.7	0.686
Female	25	10.8 ± 5.0
Tumor location
Head of pancreas/lesser pancreas	50	10.9 ± 4.7	0.601
Body and tail of pancreas	20	11.6 ± 5.1
Tumor size
Diameter ≥4.0 cm	40	11.0 ± 4.4	0.821
Diameter <4.0 cm	30	11.2 ± 5.3
Tumor differentiation
High or middle	48	11.0 ± 5.0	0.800
Low	22	11.3 ± 4.3
Lymphatic vessel invasion in adjacent tissue
Positive	41	12.2 ± 4.8	0.024
Negative	29	9.6 ± 4.4
Lymph node metastasis
Positive	37	11.4 ± 4.4	0.549
Negative	33	10.8 ± 5.2
PNP invasion
Positive	47	11.9 ± 4.6	0.042
Negative	23	9.4 ± 4.9
VEGF‐C expression
Positive	43	12.1 ± 4.7	0.031
Negative	27	9.6 ± 4.6

Lymphatic vessel density (LVD) data are given as the mean ± SD. PNP, peripancreatic nerve plexus; VEGF‐C, vascular endothelial growth factor C.