Vascular endothelial growth factor expression in stage I non-small cell lung cancer correlates with neoangiogenesis and a poor prognosis.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. We investigated the prognostic significance of VEGF overexpression, intratumoral microvessel density (MVD), and angiolymphatic invasion in stage Ia-b non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).