Regional lymph node metastasis is closely related to the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, and control of lymph node metastasis is an important therapeutic strategy. Therefore, microlymphatic movement is of concern in the primary lesion. However, there are many ambiguous points in that it can be difficult to distinguish between blood vessels and lymph vessels. This study was conducted in order to clarify the various relationships among angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, and

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... tumor invasion in cancers of the oral cavity. Using a double stain of 5'nucleotidase-alkaline phosphatase, blood and lymph vessel densities were measured simultaneously. Thereafter, the relationship between clinicopathological factors and blood and lymph vessel densities was investigated. Results: 1) Blood and lymph vessel densities in normal mucosal epithelium were 27.4•}4.4 and 12.8•}4.0, respectively. On the other hand, those of cancer cases were 9.5•}6.3 and 6.4•}1.7, respectively. 2) Among the clinicopathological factors, T category, N category and grade of tumor differentiation did not correlate with blood and lymph vessel densities in metastatic or moderately to poorly differentiated cases. On the other hand, regarding the mode of invasion, the more diffuse the mode of invasion the higher the blood vessel density. However, the lymph vessel density was generally similar in each grade of mode of invasion with a slight increase in highly invasive carcinoma.