Table 1.
Clinical and pathologic characteristics of included CRC patients (n=138)
| Characteristics | No. of patients | No. of pre-op CTCs (+) | χ2 value | P-value | No. of post-op CTCs (+) | χ2 value | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||
| Gender [n (%)] | 0.028 | 0.866 | 0.002 | 0.966 | |||
| Male | 79 (57.2) | 62 (78.5) | 39 (49.4) | ||||
| Female | 59 (42.8) | 47 (79.7) | 24 (40.7) | ||||
| Age [n (%)] | 2.686 | 0.101 | 0.294 | 0.587 | |||
| <60 years | 71 (51.4) | 60 (84.5) | 34 (47.9) | ||||
| ≥60 years | 67 (48.6) | 49 (73.1) | 29 (43.3) | ||||
| Tumor location [n (%)] | 2.089 | 0.148 | 1.216 | 0.270 | |||
| Colon | 74 (53.6) | 55 (74.3) | 37 (50.0) | ||||
| Rectal | 64 (46.4) | 54 (84.4) | 26 (40.6) | ||||
| Grade [n (%)] | 7.838 | 0.020* | 8.154 | 0.017* | |||
| Poor | 41 (29.7) | 38 (92.3) | 25 (61.0) | ||||
| Moderate | 59 (42.8) | 41 (69.5) | 27 (45.8) | ||||
| Well | 38 (27.5) | 30 (78.9) | 11 (28.9) | ||||
| LVI [n (%)] | 0.586 | 0.444 | 1.657 | 0.196 | |||
| Absence | 77 (55.8) | 59 (76.6) | 31 (40.3) | ||||
| Presence | 61 (44.2) | 50 (82.0) | 32 (52.5) | ||||
| TI [n (%)] | 0.015 | 0.904 | 0.004 | 0.950 | |||
| T1–2 | 20 (14.5) | 16 (80.0) | 9 (45.0) | ||||
| T3–4 | 118 (85.5) | 93 (78.8) | 54 (45.8) | ||||
| LNM [n (%)] | 1.070 | 0.376 | 1.183 | 0.365 | |||
| N0 | 46 (33.3) | 34 (73.9) | 18 (39.1) | ||||
| N+ | 92 (66.7) | 75 (81.5) | 45 (48.9) | ||||
| TNM stagea [n (%)] | 2.133 | 0.344 | 3.553 | 0.169 | |||
| I | 13 (9.4) | 9 (69.2) | 3 (23.1) | ||||
| II | 67 (48.6) | 51 (76.1) | 30 (44.8) | ||||
| III | 58 (42.0) | 49 (84.5) | 30 (51.7) | ||||
| CEA level [n (%)] | 4.117 | 0.042* | 1.984 | 0.159 | |||
| <5 ng/mL | 98 (71.0) | 73 (74.5) | 41 (41.8) | ||||
| ≥5 ng/mL | 40 (29.0) | 36 (90.0) | 22 (55.0) | ||||
| Overall | 138 (100.0) | 109 (79.0) | — | — | 63 (45.7) | — | — |
Notes:
a
The seventh edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system;
*
P<0.05.
Abbreviations: CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CRC, colorectal cancer; CTCs, circulating tumor cells; LVI, lymphovascular invasion; LNM, lymph node metastasis; n, number; op, operative; TI, tumor invasion; TNM, tumor-node-metastasis.