LVSI grading

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  • Forherself
    Forherself Member Posts: 959 Member
    edited November 2021 #2
    Welcome KimInHudsonVAlley

    I am glad you found us.  Your question made me wonder as I have not seen LVSI number of foci present.  And I thought LVSI meant blood vessels and lymph vessels.  I found this online  Lymphovascular invasion - Libre Pathologyo


    imagehttps://librepathology.org › wiki › Lymphovascular_invasion


    Lymphovascular invasion, also lymphovascular space invasion, is (non-hematologic) malignant cells within blood vessels and/or lymphatics. It is abbreviated LVI.. The term lymphovascular invasion is preferred to vascular invasion, as it is very difficult to differentiate morphologically small lymphatics and small vascular spaces, without immunohistochemistry.    I hope that helps.  I have seen some peole say they had extensive LVSI.  I think your pathologist might not be used to having such detailed questions.

     
  • Harmanygroves
    Harmanygroves Member Posts: 486 Member
    edited November 2021 #3
    LVSI

    As I understand, LVSI presents when there is significant myometrial invasion. Cancer is in the lymph and vascular systems in your uterus. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is then metastizing outside of your uterus, but cells are tiny and cancer is sneaky. My first gyn onc, who explained LVSI in almost cartoon terms, excplained that the lymph system often would kill cancer cells, gobbling them up as they tried to exit the uterus, so not to worry about LVSI, but it is considered a poor prognostic factor. It's nothing you want!

    As one of the women in here pointed out earlier when I first joined, lymph system and vascular system are two routes that cancer can metastisize. That said, it's one thing to have cancer cells in your body; we all do! It's another to have them actually set up camp and form a tumor somewhere. Genetics play a role in how easily tumors form. Last night I was reading about PTen, one of the genetic mutations that keeps your body from killing cancer cells. It's fascinating stuff, and I am a strong proponent of "knowledge is power."

    There is a lot of information online about LVSI, but basically, it's a route for cancer to travel outside of the uterus. If cancer is in the lymph and vascular system of the uterus, the next step for it is to travel elsewhere, whether it's in the pelvic region or distant metastisis. I'm sure someone else in here will correct any unspecific language I've used, or perhaps add to the conversation. As a person who had LVSI, I'm always interested in this conversation.

  • cmb
    cmb Member Posts: 1,001 Member
    Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI)

    Here's a link to a previous discussion on LVSI from earlier this year that may be of interest:

    https://csn.cancer.org/comment/1678951#comment-1678951