Table 1. Patients’ characteristics of stage IV CRC patients that were analyzed for presence of CTCs.
| Total number of patients | 90 |
| Age | |
| Mean (± SEM) | 59 (± 1.4) |
| Median (range) | 58 (20–88) |
| Gender | |
| Females | 34 (38%) |
| Males | 56 (62%) |
| Location of primary tumor | |
| Rectosigmoid | 60 (67%) |
| Descending colon | 6 (7%) |
| Transverse colon | 2 (2%) |
| Right colon/cecum | 22 (24%) |
| Synchronous vs. metachronous metastases | 47 (52%) vs. 43 (48%) |
| pT stage of primary tumor (data available in 72/90 patients) | |
| pT1 | 5 (7%) |
| pT2 | 4 (5%) |
| pT3 | 43 (60%) |
| pT4 | 20 (28%) |
| Nodal status of primary tumor N− vs. N+ (data available in 74/90 patients) | 25 (34%) vs. 49 (66%) |
| CEA serum level (ng/ml) (data available in 87/90 patients) | |
| Mean (± SEM) | 147.8 (± 65.6) |
| Median (range) | 4.9 (1–4967.7) |
| CA19.9 serum level (U/ml) (data available in 25/90 patients) | |
| Mean (± SEM) | 1150.8 (± 635) |
| Median (range) | 40.1 (1–15 022) |
| Microsatellite instability (MSI-H and MSI-L) | 6/30 (20%) |
| KRAS mutation (codon 12 or 13) | 17/64 (27%) |
| BRAF mutation (codon 600) | 6/46 (13%) |
| NRAS mutation (codon 12, 13, and 61) | 1/19 (5%) |
| PI3K mutation (codon 1047) | 1/21 (5%) |
| High EGFR expression | 24/33 (73%) |
| High ERCC1 expression | 5/33 (15%) |
| High TS expression | 11/33 (33%) |
| Metastatic organ involvement: | |
| Lung metastases | 19 (21%) |
| Liver metastases | 31 (34%) |
| Diffuse metastases | 40 (45%) |
| Lung and extrahepatic | 6 (7%) |
| Liver and extrapulmonary | 7 (8%) |
| Extrapulmonary/-hepatic | 11 (12%) |
| Lung and liver | 8 (9%) |
| Liver and lung and other | 8 (9%) |
Extrahepatic and -pulmonary metastases were mediastinal/retroperitoneal/pelvic/mesenteric/supraclavicular lymph nodes, local recurrences, abdominal wall metastases, or other organ sites (adrenals, bone, brain, pleural/peritoneal/omental).