Table 2.
Correlation of preoperative CTC number to clinicopathological characteristics
| Characteristics | 3-year recurrence rate% | No. of patients (%) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTC ≥ 1/7.5 ml | CTC ≥ 2/7.5 ml | CTC ≥ 3/7.5 ml | CTC ≥ 4/7.5 ml | CTC ≥ 5/7.5 ml | ||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male (n = 68) | 65.6 | 23 (33.8%) | 9 (13.2%) | 6 (8.8%) | 5 (7.4%) | 5 (7.4%) |
| Female (n = 25) | 63.1 | 8 (32.0%) | 4 (16.0%) | 3 (12.0%) | 1 (4.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| p value | 0.658 | 0.869 | 0.997 | 0.949 | 1.000 | 0.319 |
| Age | ||||||
| ≤ 45 (n = 16) | 58.3 | 6 (37.5%) | 4 (25.0%) | 4 (25.0%) | 2 (12.5%) | 1 (6.3%) |
| > 45 (n = 77) | 66.2 | 25 (32.5%) | 9 (11.7%) | 5 (6.5%) | 4 (5.2%) | 4 (5.2%) |
| p value | 0.244 | 0.698 | 0.317 | 0.070 | 0.274 | 1.000 |
| Primary sitea | ||||||
| EGJ (n = 29) | 50.4 | 9 (31.0%) | 3 (10.3%) | 2 (6.9%) | 2 (6.9%) | 2 (6.9%) |
| Non-EGJ (n = 64) | 71.2 | 22 (34.3%) | 10 (15.6%) | 7 (10.9%) | 4 (6.3%) | 3 (4.7%) |
| p value | 0.002 | 0.873 | 0.787 | 0.873 | 1.000 | 0.635 |
| Differentiationb | ||||||
| Good (n = 22) | 71.8 | 4 (18.2%) | 1 (4.5%) | 1 (4.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Poor (n = 71) | 62.6 | 27 (38.0%) | 12 (16.9%) | 8 (11.3%) | 6 (8.5%) | 5 (7.0%) |
| p value | 0.174 | 0.084 | 0.268 | 0.604 | 0.330 | 0.335 |
| Lauren | ||||||
| Intestinal (n = 36) | 68.0 | 8 (22.2%) | 2 (5.6%) | 1 (2.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Diffuse (n = 23) | 67.4 | 6 (26.1%) | 5 (21.7%) | 5 (21.7%) | 3 (13.0%) | 2 (8.7%) |
| Mixed (n = 34) | 60.0 | 17 (50.0%) | 6 (17.6%) | 3 (8.8%) | 3 (8.8%) | 3 (8.8%) |
| p value | 0.434 | 0.033 | 0.118 | 0.060 | 0.068 | 0.148 |
| TNM classification | ||||||
| I (n = 24) | 100.0 | 6 (25.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| II (n = 24) | 68.3 | 8 (33.3%) | 4 (16.7%) | 2 (8.3%) | 1 (4.2%) | 1 (4.2%) |
| III (n = 45) | 44.0 | 17 (37.8%) | 9 (20.0%) | 7 (15.6%) | 5 (11.1%) | 4 (8.9%) |
| p value | 0.000 | 0.563 | 0.047 | 0.103 | 0.306 | 0.443 |
| Depth of penetration | ||||||
| T1/T2 (n = 30) | 90.0 | 8 (26.7%) | 1 (3.3%) | 1 (3.3%) | 1 (3.3%) | 1 (3.3%) |
| T3 (n = 34) | 56.9 | 12 (35.3%) | 5 (14.7%) | 1 (2.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| T4 (n = 29) | 47.7 | 11 (37.9%) | 7 (24.1%) | 7 (24.1%) | 5 (17.2%) | 4 (13.8%) |
| p value | 0.000 | 0.627 | 0.064 | 0.007 | 0.009 | 0.026 |
| Lymph node | ||||||
| N0 (n = 31) | 96.8 | 7 (22.6%) | 2 (6.5%) | 1 (3.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| N1/N2 (n = 31) | 58.4 | 9 (29.0%) | 3 (9.7%) | 2 (6.5%) | 2 (6.5%) | 2 (6.5%) |
| N3 (n = 31) | 38.9 | 15 (48.4%) | 8 (25.8%) | 6 (19.4%) | 4 (12.9%) | 3 (9.7%) |
| p value | 0.000 | 0.081 | 0.109 | 0.133 | 0.160 | 0.362 |
| Lymph-vascular invasion | ||||||
| Yes (n = 45) | 53.0 | 20 (44.4%) | 9 (20.0%) | 6 (13.3%) | 3 (6.7%) | 3 (6.7%) |
| No (n = 48) | 75.8 | 11 (22.9%) | 4 (8.3%) | 3 (6.3%) | 3 (6.3%) | 2 (4.2%) |
| p value | 0.001 | 0.028 | 0.105 | 0.307 | 1.000 | 0.671 |
| CEAc level before operation (ng/ml) | ||||||
| < 5 (n = 75) | 68.8 | 26 (34.7%) | 12 (16.0%) | 9 (12.0%) | 6 (8.0%) | 5 (6.7%) |
| ≥ 5 (n = 17) | 46.3 | 5 (29.4%) | 1 (5.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| NAd (n = 1) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| P value | 0.001 | 0.679 | 0.487 | 0.293 | 0.589 | 0.580 |
Italic values indicate that there are significant differences in pre-operative CTCs between different clinicopathological types
aEGJ, gastroesophageal junction
bGood, including high or moderate differentiation; Poor, including low differentiation, mucinous adenocarcinoma, and signet-ring cell carcinoma
ccarcinoembryonic antigen
dnon-available