The author studied the architecture of minute tumor vessels of lung cancer by the selective arteriography in clinical cases and by the microangiography of resected specimens.
1. Method....Selective bronchial arteriography was performed in 17 cases by the Viamonte's technique. Microangiogram of the bronchial or pulmonary artery system was obtained by soft roentgenograms of serial sections of 27 resected specimens.
2. Selective bronchial arteriogram....Hypervascularity coincident to the tumor-shadow was found in 16 of 17 cases. Hypervascularity was demonstrated in patients with squamous cell carcinoma and in patients with the tumor in hilar region. The grade of the vascularization appeared to be related to the location of the tumor, and less to the histologic type of the tumor. In large tumors, vascularization was uneven and decreased at their preipheral portion of the lung.
3. Microangiogram of bronchial artery system....Hypervascularity was demonstrated in 8 among 9 cases, and scant vascularization was found only in one case, in which the tumor located in peripheral region of the lung. The location of the tumor appeared to be the important factor influencing on microangiographic findings of the bronchial artery system.
4. Microangiogram of pulmonary artery system....Vascularization in the tumors decreased in 15 of 18 specimens. Vascularization of squamous cell carcinomas and tumors in the hilar region markedly decreased and was unevenly distributed. Vascularization of adenocarcinomas and peripherally situated tumors was not so decreased and was distributed rather evenly. In large tumors, vascularization was uneven and disappeared at their centers.
5. Comparison between microangiogram of bronchial artery system and that of pulmonary artery system....The vascularization due to the bronchial artery system was markedly different from that due to the pulmonary artery system. The bronchial arteriogram usually showed hypervascularity in the tumor, and in the tumor with uneven vascularity, the peripheral portion of the lung was avascular. The pulmonary arteriogram showed less vascularity in the tumor, and when it was distributed unevenly in the tumor, the central portion of the tumor was avascular.
