Lymph Node Involvement in Early-Stage Cervical Cancer: Is Lymphangiogenesis a Risk Factor? Results from the MICROCOL Study.

In patients with cervical cancer, the presence of tumoral lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI) is the main risk factor for pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of several markers of lymphangiogenesis in early-stage cervical cancer and their correlation with PLNM and tumoral recurrence. Seventy-five patients with early-stage cervical carcinoma underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) sampling in association with complete pelvic lymph node dissection.