Table 3.

Detection of CK20 positive tumor cells (CTC) in the blood of patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant RCTX

Variable	Category	Rate of CK20 positive CTC	χ2-test (p-values)
RCTX	Responder	27.2 % (6/22)	p = 0.030
	Non-responder	54.4 % (31/57)
Tumor localisation	Upper 1/3	54.5 % (6/11)	p = 0.848
	Middle 1/3	46.3 % (19/41)
	Lower 1/3	44.4 % (12/27)
pN- Status	pN+	55.8 % (19/34)	p = 0.161
	pN-	40 % (18/45)
UICC Stage	I	30,4 % (7/23)	p = 0.265
	II	52.3 % (11/21)
	III	51.7 % (15/29)
	IV	66.6 % (4/6)