Original Article Diagnostic Hematology

Background: Angiogenesis is important for the proliferation and survival of multiple my-eloma (MM) cells. Bone marrow (BM) microvessel density (MVD) is a useful marker of angiogenesis and is determined by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD34 anti-body. This study investigated the prognostic impact of MVD and demonstrated the rela-tionship between MVD and previously mentioned prognostic factors in patients with MM. Methods: The study included 107 patients with MM. MVD was assessed at initial diagno-sis in a blinded manner by two hematopathologists who examined three CD34-positive hot spots per patient and counted the number of vessels in BM samples. Patients were di-vided into three groups according to MVD tertiles. Cumulative progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) curves, calculated by using Kaplan-Meier method, were compared among the three groups. Prognostic impact of MVD was assessed by calculat-ing Cox proportional hazard ratio (HR). Results: Median MVDs in the three groups were 16.8, 33.9, and 54.7. MVDs were corre-lated with other prognostic factors, including β2-microglobulin concentration, plasma cell percentage in the BM, and cancer stage according to the International Staging System