All cases were classified into three groups according to the VEGF-C levels in the serum, LNs and tumor tissue, and the median VEGF-C concentrations in the LNM group were 697.7±96.9, 61.1±14.2 and 62.3±15.3 pg/ml in the serum (Fig. 1), LNs (Fig. 2) and tumor tissue (Fig. 3), respectively. Here, VEGFC is linked to neoplasm.