Clinical Significance of Circulating Tumor Cells in Blood from Patients with Gastrointestinal Cancers

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) measured by the CellSearch system in metastatic breast cancer have been reported to correlate with shorter overall survival. The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinicopathologic characteristics of CTCs in gastrointestinal cancers. Methods Pre- and postoperative CTCs from 130 gastrointestinal cancer patients and 41 healthy volunteers were measured by this system. Correlation between CTC counts and clinicopathologic variables was examined. Results The number of CTCs in metastatic patients ( n = 79) was larger than in nonmetastatic patients ( n = 35) and in healthy donors ( n = 41) ( P