Prognostic value of microvessel density in cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND

Several epidemiological researches have indicated that microvessel density (MVD), reflecting angiogenesis, was a negatively prognostic factor of cervical cancer. However, the results were inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between microvessel density and the survival probability of patients with cervical cancer.

METHOD

There was a comprehensive search of the PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane databases up to August 31, 2017. Based on a fixed-effects or random-effects model, the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated from researches on overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).

RESULT

Totally, we included 13 observational researches, involving 1097 patients with cervical cancer. The results showed that high level of microvessel density was negatively correlated with OS (HR = 1.79, 95% CIs 1.31-2.44,  = 60.7%,  = 0.003) and DFS (HR = 1.47, 95% CIs 1.13-1.80,  = 0%,  = 0.423) of cervical cancer patients. In subgroup analysis, high counts of MVD were significantly associated with a poor survival (including OS and DFS) of the patients detected by anti-factor VIII antibodies or in European origin.

CONCLUSION

The present meta-analysis indicated that survival with high level of MVD was significant poorer than with low MVD in cervical cancer patient. Standardization of MVD assessment is needed.