Quantitative evaluation of colorectal tumour vasculature using contrast-enhanced ultrasound: Correlation with angiogenesis and prognostic significance

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Characteristic	Number of patients	Percentage
Total patients	100	100%
Men	57	57%
Women	43	43%
Tumour location
Rectum	52	52%
Sigmoid colon	26	26%
Ascending colon	12	12%
Descending colon	10	10%
Tumour stage
Stage I	21	21%
Stage II	29	29%
Stage III	35	35%
Stage IV	15	15%
Metastasis
Lymph node metastasis	50	50%
Distant metastasis	15	15%

Table 2 Correlations between contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters and angiogenesis markers

Parameters	Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	P value
PI and VEGF	0.73	< 0.001
PI and MVD	0.75	< 0.001
TTP and VEGF	-0.68	< 0.001
TTP and MVD	-0.72	< 0.001
AUC and VEGF	0.71	< 0.001
AUC and MVD	0.74	< 0.001

PI: Peak intensity; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; TTP: Time to peak; MVD: Microvessel density; AUC: Area under the curve.

Table 3 Associations between contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters, angiogenesis markers, and clinicopathological characteristics

	Tumour stage	Lymph node metastasis	Distant metastasis	Age (yr)	Sex
PI	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	NS	NS
TTP	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	NS	NS
AUC	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	NS	NS
VEGF expression	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	NS	NS
MVD	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	NS	NS

NS: No significant; PI: Peak intensity; TTP: Time to peak; AUC: Area under the curve; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; MVD: Microvessel density.

Table 4 Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors for overall survival and disease-free survival

Prognostic factor	Hazard ratio (OS)	95%CI (OS)	P value (OS)	Hazard ratio (DFS)	95%CI (DFS)	P value (DFS)
VEGF expression	2.47	1.31-4.65	0.005	2.31	1.24-4.32	0.008
MVD	2.81	1.49-5.30	0.001	2.67	1.42-5.03	0.002
PI	2.55	1.36-4.78	0.003	2.38	1.28-4.42	0.006
TTP	2.34	1.24-4.41	0.008	2.26	1.20-4.26	0.011
AUC	2.62	1.38-4.96	0.003	2.54	1.34-4. 81	0.004

OS: Overall survival; DFS: Disease-free survival; CI: Confidence interval; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; MVD: Microvessel density; PI: Peak intensity; TTP: Time to peak; AUC: Area under the curve.