Table 2.

Kaplan-Meier progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival estimates stratified by CTC level and patient and tumor characteristics in patients with newly diagnosed stage III inflammatory breast cancer

	Progression-free survival				Overall survival
Variable	Hazard ratio	Lower 95% CI	Upper 95% CI	P value	Hazard ratio	Lower 95% CI	Upper 95% CI	P value
All patients
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.66	0.31	1.39	0.29	0.57	0.25	1.31	0.21
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	0.69	0.26	1.78	0.39	0.72	0.26	2.00	0.48
ER/PR positive for either
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.59	0.23	1.53	0.28	0.59	0.18	1.94	0.40
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	0.33	0.06	1.70	0.04	0.33	0.05	2.18	0.08
ER/PR negative for both
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.76	0.22	2.69	0.69	1.14	0.55	2.39	0.70
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	1.14	0.31	4.14	0.85	1.05	0.28	3.91	0.94
HER-2/neu positive
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.64	0.15	2.77	0.58	0.37	0.07	1.97	0.34
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	1.25	0.27	5.71	0.79	0.97	0.18	5.33	0.97
HER-2/neu negative
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.62	0.26	1.49	0.29	0.51	0.19	1.37	0.18
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	0.42	0.11	1.59	0.08	0.51	0.13	2.05	0.23
Triple negative
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.40	0.11	1.51	0.24	0.31	0.08	1.14	0.11
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	0.56	0.11	2.71	0.39	0.60	0.13	2.82	0.45
High grade
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.65	0.28	1.47	0.31	0.42	0.17	1.06	0.09
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	0.56	0.19	1.69	0.22	0.44	0.13	1.46	0.09
Low/intermediate grade
<1 CTC versus ≥1 CTC	0.87	0.15	5.08	0.87	1.34	0.18	9.70	0.76
<5 CTC versus ≥5 CTC	1.44	0.20	10.50	0.74	NAa	NAa	NAa	0.19

ER, estrogen receptor; NR, not reached; PR, progesterone receptor; NA, not applicable.

^aNo events in patients with five or more CTCs.