Clinical value of circulating tumor cell detection in evaluating the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate circulating tumor cells (CTC) in prognosis prediction of gastric cancer.Method Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 65 patients with gastric cancer and 20 normal volunteers.CTC were detected by using CellSearch(R) CTC Detecting System.Postoperative progress-free survival (PFIS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated against CTC status and clinicopathological factors.Result CTC were positive in 35 out of 65 (53％) patients compared to 1 out of 20 (5％) healthy controls,P ＜ 0.05.CTC were not statistically corelated with patients' age,sex and lymph node status or distal metastasis,vascular invasion and tumor markers (all P ＞ 0.05).CTC positive patients had poorer OS (P ＜ 0.05) and PFS (P ＜ 0.05) compared with those with negative CTC.Conclusion Positive CTC in gastric cancer patients predict poor prognosis after radical gastrectomy.