Table 3 Microvessel Density in TETs of patients in regard to histology, tumor stage and myasthenia gravis.

From: Follistatin impacts Tumor Angiogenesis and Outcome in Thymic Epithelial Tumors

Variables

Nr.

Absolute Number of Vessels

Tumor Vessel Ratios

mean ± SEM

mean ± SEM

Immature

Mature

Total

Imm./Mat.

Imm./Tot.

Mat./Tot.

WHO Classification

MNT

4

121.1 ± 15.8

15.8 ± 1.9

136.8 ± 14.9

8.2 ± 1.6

0.88 ± 0.03

0.12 ± 0.03

A

14

114.5 ± 16.0

19.0 ± 3.6

133.4 ± 15.8

9.8 ± 2.6

0.83 ± 0.03

0.17 ± 0.03

AB

14

115.4 ± 6.9

13.7 ± 1.7

129.0 ± 6.5

10.8 ± 2.0

0.89 ± 0.01

0.11 ± 0.01

B1

10

87.1 ± 13.4

10.0 ± 1.8

97.0 ± 12.4

15.2 ± 4.8

0.86 ± 0.04

0.14 ± 0.04

B2

21

82.8 ± 11.6

13.5 ± 1.5

96.2 ± 11.3

10.1 ± 2.9

0.82 ± 0.03

0.18 ± 0.03

B3

17

52.3 ± 9.5

27.7 ± 7.3

80.0 ± 11.7

3.3 ± 0.8

0.64 ± 0.05

0.36 ± 0.05

TC

14

25.1 ± 2.9

29.8 ± 4.8

54.9 ± 4.7

1.1 ± 0.2

0.47 ± 0.04

0.53 ± 0.03

p - valuea

 

<0.001

0.008

<0.001

0.005

<0.001

<0.001

Masaoka – Koga Tumor Stage

I

23

109.6 ± 9.7

16.1 ± 2.0

125.7 ± 9.9

8.8 ± 1.2

0.86 ± 0.02

0.14 ± 0.02

II

45

91.6 ± 7.3

13.9 ± 1.3

105.5 ± 6.9

11.4 ± 1.9

0.83 ± 0.02

0.17 ± 0.02

III

13

41.1 ± 9.2

22.4 ± 3.0

63.5 ± 10.8

2.1 ± 0.5

0.60 ± 0.05

0.40 ± 0.05

IV

13

28.9 ± 3.9

38.7 ± 9.7

67.6 ± 9.6

1.1 ± 0.3

0.47 ± 0.05

0.53 ± 0.05

p - valuea

 

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Myasthenia Gravis

positive

29

77.6 ± 6.5

22.8 ± 9.3

106.6 ± 9.3

7.2 ± 1.5

0.76 ± 0.04

0.24 ± 0.04

negative

68

83.8 ± 9.0

17.4 ± 1.4

95.0 ± 6.0

8.2 ± 1.3

0.75 ± 0.02

0.25 ± 0.02

p - valueb

 

0.594

0.272

0.295

0.664

0.803

0.803

  1. Abbreviations: MNT, Micronodular thymoma; TC, thymic carcinoma; Nr., number of patients; SEM, standard error of the mean.
  2. Absolute number and ratios of tumor vessels are indicated with respect to histologic tumor subtype, tumor stage and paraneoplastic MG. Imm./Mat. Ratio was calculated by dividing the relative number of immature vessels by the relative number of mature vessels, while Imm./Tot. Ratio and Mat./Tot. Ratio were calculated by dividing the relative number of immature and mature tumor vessels by the total number of all tumor vessels, respectively. aOne-way ANOVA; bUnpaired Student’s t-test.
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