Table 3.

Prognostic significance of circulating tumor cells for overall survival subdivided by subtype of primary tumor

Subtype of primary tumor	Overall survival in months <5 CTCs	Overall survival in months ≥5 CTCs	P value
Luminala	21.2 (16.5-26.5)	7.4 (4.8-10.1)	0.003
HER2 subtype	25.2 (18.3-32.1)	12.1 (7.9-16.2)	0.027
Triple-negative	26.7 (22.6-30.9)	19.7 (16.2-23.1)	0.003

Values of overall survival are presented as mean (95% confidence interval). ^aHormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative. CTC, circulating tumor cell; HER2, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.