ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although most breast cancer patients are curable, late-stage cases still have a poor prognosis. Early detection can lead to timely treatment and thus improve survival. Less invasive detection methods such as the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream is becoming more popular. METHODS: To better characterize the prognostic significance of CTCs in breast cancer patients, we detected CTCs in breast cancer patients after surgery and analyzed the relationship between the number of CTCs and patients' clinical outcomes. RESULTS: No significant correlation was observed between the number of total CTCs and overall survival or progression-free survival. The total number of CTCs was often higher in patients over 60 years of age, and the time of detection after surgical excision had a significant effect on the total number of CTCs. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that in order to interpret the results more accurately, testing procedures, especially testing time points, need to be standardized and clinical characteristics such as age need to be taken into account.
