Implications of morphologic patterns of intraepithelial microvasculature observed by narrow-band imaging system in cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma

SummaryPurposeTo investigate the intraepithelial microvascular morphology of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) by using narrow-band imaging (NBI) and analyze whether the intraepithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL) patterns correlate with infiltration depth and disease severity in OSCC.MethodsThe clinicopathologic data, morphology of vascular architecture as observed by NBI, and histopathology of patients with OSCC were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.ResultsA total of 80 patients, including 73 males and 7 females with an average age of 54.18 ± 12.23 years, were enrolled. Three patterns of intraepithelial microvasculature were revealed by NBI and differences in these three patterns were significant with regard to pathologic T-classification (p < 0.0001), N-classification (p = 0.00022), TNM stage (p < 0.0001), lymphovascular invasion (p < 0.0001), perineural invasion (p = 0.000299), depth of tumor infiltration (p < 0.0001), and tumor differentiation (p < 0.0001). A cut-off point of tumor infiltration of 10.012 mm was best predicted for the destructive pattern of IPCL (sensitivity = 100%, specificity = 90.0%).ConclusionsThree different patterns of IPCL, showing step-wise increased severity according to pathologic parameters, were observed by NBI in cases of OSCC. The pattern indicating IPCL destruction with angiogenesis was associated with more advanced disease stage.