Table 1.
Patient characteristics reflecting the CTC-status before and after CRT-therapy
| CC study | Number of patients | n=30 | % | CTC positivity - before therapy | % | CTC positivity after CRT therapy | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average age | 63 (30-87) | ||||||
|
| |||||||
| Tumor stage | T1b2* | 2 | 6% | 0/2 | 0 | 2/2 | 100% |
| T2b | 21 | 70% | 16/16 | 100% | 11/16 | 68% | |
| T3a | 1 | 23% | 6/6 | 100% | 5/6 | 83% | |
| T3b | 6 | ||||||
| Nodal stage | N0 | 19 | 63% | 12/13 | 92% | 9/13 | 69% |
| N1 | 11 | 36% | 9/9 | 100% | 7/9 | 77% | |
| Metastasis | M0 | 30 | 100% | 24/25 | 96% | 20/26 | 76%* |
| M1 | 0 | 0% | x | x | x | x | |
| Histology | Squamous cell carcinoma | 25 | 83% | 24/25 | 96% | 16/22 | 72%* |
| Adenocarcinoma | 4 | 16% | 4/4 | 100% | 4/5 | 80% | |
| Adenosquamous carcinoma | 1 | ||||||
| LVSI | Negative | 2 | 28% | 2/2 | 100% | 1/2 | 50% |
| Positive | 5 | 71% | 4/4 | 100% | 4/4 | 100% | |
| Non-tested | 23 | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Tumor grade | Gx | 7 | x | x | x | x | x |
| G1 | 1 | 47% | 9/9 | 100% | 4/10 | 40%* | |
| G2 | 10 | ||||||
| G3 | 10 | 52% | 11/11 | 100% | 11/12 | 91% | |
| G4 | 2 | ||||||
*
Asterisk signifies a significant decrease in CTCs positivity after completing CRT.