Grouping malignant tumours according to stage, no significant difference was found in the extratumoral stroma, and a significant increase in the number of lymphatics expressing VEGFR-3 in the intratumoral stroma from stage 0 and I vs stage II (median values: stage 0 = 0.7; stage I = 0.8; stage II = 3.3; Spearman test: P < 0.05) (figure 3). The gene discussed is FLT4; the disease is neoplasm.