Myometrial invasion

Myometrial invasion is an independent prognostic parameter of the endometrioid carcinomas which correlates with the risk of metastasis to pelvic and/or paraaortic lymph nodes.

Recognition of myometrial invasion is sometimes difficult. In fact, myoinvasion is overdiagnosed in routine practice in as many as 25% of the cases. Recently, it has been observed that tumor-associated macrophages stimulate angiogenesis and promote cancer dissemination.

There is a link between increased microvessel proliferation to stromal macrophage infiltrate and suggest that enhanced tumor angiogenesis, triggered by stromal macrophages, regulates the progression of endometrioid carcinomas.

The identical stroma microenvironment found in the primary and the corresponding metastatic tumor suggests that tumor stroma response is determined by the intrinsic biology of the tumor.

References

 Myometrial invasion and lymph node metastasis in endometrioid carcinomas: tumor-associated macrophages, microvessel density, and HIF1A have a crucial role. Espinosa I, José Carnicer M, Catasus L, Canet B, D’angelo E, Zannoni GF, Prat J. Am J Surg Pathol. 2010 Nov;34(11):1708-14. PMID: 20962622