Table 4.
Analysis of the clinical and pathological characteristics in relation to the detection pattern of circulating tumor cells using the carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin 20 and epidermal growth factor receptor multiplex assay n (%)
| Parameter |
No. of positive markers in each blood sample |
P-value | |||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Age (yr) | |||||
| < 69 | 1 (2.4) | 7 (17.1) | 26 (63.4) | 7 (17.1) | |
| ≥ 69 | 3 (6.4) | 8 (17) | 26 (55.3) | 10 (21.3) | 0.963 |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 3 (5.4) | 8 (14.3) | 32 (57.1) | 13 (23.2) | |
| Female | 1 (3.1) | 7 (21.9) | 20 (62.5) | 4 (12.5) | 0.294 |
| Stage (Astler-Coller) | |||||
| A + B | 4 (13.3) | 7 (23.3) | 17 (56.7) | 2 (6.7) | |
| C | 0 (0) | 6 (22.2) | 17 (63) | 4 (14.8) | |
| D | 0 (0) | 2 (6.5) | 18 (58.1) | 11 (35.5) | < 0.001 |
| Lymph node involvement1 | |||||
| ≤ 3 | 4 (7.1) | 11 (19.6) | 35 (62.5) | 6 (10.7) | |
| > 3 | 0 (0) | 4 (16) | 14 (56) | 7 (28) | 0.055 |
| Tumor size (cm)2 | |||||
| < 3 | 2 (10.5) | 2 (10.5) | 15 (79) | 0 (0) | |
| 3-5 | 1 (2.5) | 8 (20) | 21 (52.5) | 10 (25) | |
| > 5 | 1 (4.8) | 5 (23.8) | 11 (52.4) | 4 (19) | 0.774 |
| Differentiation3 | |||||
| Well + moderate | 4 (6.8) | 10 (17) | 36 (61) | 9 (15.2) | |
| Poor + no | 0 (0) | 4 (22.2) | 10 (55.6) | 4 (22.2) | 0.560 |
| Serum CEA (ng/mL)4 | |||||
| < 5 | 3 (10) | 9 (30) | 12 (40) | 6 (20) | |
| 5-10 | 0 (0) | 1 (7.1) | 11 (78.6) | 2 (14.3) | |
| > 10 | 0 (0) | 4 (13.3) | 17 (56.7) | 9 (30) | 0.029 |
P-values were calculated by Spearman’s test.
1
P-value calculation using data from 81 patients (7 missing values);
2
P-value calculation using data from 80 patients (8 missing values);
3
P-value calculation using data from 77 patients (11 missing values);
4
P-value calculation using data from 74 patients (14 missing values). CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.