Clinical values of circulating tumor cells in the diagnosis and surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors.The prognosis of HCC patients is very poor due to the facts that vascular invasion and distance metastasis may occur in the earlier phase of the cancer.Therefore,it is very important to make earlier diagnosis and timely monitoring post-operatively to ensure the longer survival of HCC patients.Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs),as an liquid biopsy,which can detect the tumor cells timely and repeatedly in the circulation,plays an important role in the earlier diagnosis,treatment,monitoring,and making individualized therapeutic plan,etc.In this article,we retrospectively reviewed the current literatures to evaluate the values of CTCs in the diagnosis,therapy,and surveillance of HCC patients in order to guide the clinical practice.