Lymphovascular invasion in radical prostatectomy specimens: prediction of adverse pathologic features and biochemical progression.

Objectives: Patients and referring physicians often ask about the significance of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) on pathology reports from radical prostatectomy specimens. However, limited data are available concerning the relationship between LVI and preoperative screening characteristics, pathologic tumor features, and patient prognosis.

Methods: LVI was evaluated for its ability to predict elevated prostate-specific antigen velocity, adverse pathologic features, and biochemical progression in 1709 men who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized disease.

Results: LVI was present in 118 (7%) of the 1709 men. On univariate analysis, LVI was significantly associated with tumor grade, tumor volume, and other adverse pathologic features. Prostate-specific antigen velocity was not significantly associated with the presence of LVI. Biochemical progression occurred in 34% of those with LVI compared with 10% of those without LVI (P <0.0001). However, on multivariate analysis with other pathologic tumor features, LVI was not an independent predictor of progression.

Conclusions: LVI is a relatively uncommon finding in radical prostatectomy specimens for clinically localized disease. Although LVI was seen primarily in large-volume, high-grade tumors, it was not an independent predictor of progression in the multivariate model.