Table 1.

Patient characteristics and CETC examination results

Clinico-pathological characteristics	Number of patients (%) with CETCs	Median of CETC counts	P-value	Median (%) of AR positive CETCs	P-value	Median (%) of ER positive CETCs	P-value
Age (years)
≤ 50	26 (39)	85	0.001	90	0.98	50	0.91
> 50	40 (61)	30		89		50
Tumor size
T1	29 (44)	35	0.34	83	0.42	50	0.86
T2	34 (51)	35		80		50
T3	2 (3)	120		73		62
n.a	1 (2)
Lymph node metastasis
Positive	25 (38)	40	0.63	86	0.04	50	0.63
Negative	40 (61)	35		93		50
n.a	1 (1)
Distant metastasis
Positive	7 (11)	85	0.11	88	0.99	49	0.97
Negative	58 (88)	35		89		50
n.a	1 (1)
Stage
I/II	49 (74)	30	0.009	90	0.93	51	0.16
III/IV	17 (26)	95		89		62
HER2 status
Positive	21 (32)	35	0.58	89	0.93	56	0.37
Negative	45 (68)	35		90		52
ER/PR status
Positive	51 (77)	35	0.97	87	0.74	52	0.82
Negative	15 (23)	35		88		46
Radiation
Yes	24 (36)	40	0.93	92	0.19	48	0.27
No	34 (52)	40		88		52
n.a	8 (12)
Hormone receptor status
TNBC	10 (16)	55	0.31	91	0.02	56	0.55
ER/PR pos.	51 (84)	35		83		46
Hormone therapy
Yes	33 (50)	35	0.77	89	0.57	47	0.07
No	32 (49)	35		91		60
n.a	1 (1)
Chemotherapy
Yes	30 (45)	50	0.51	90	0.47	52	0.96
No	36 (55)	35		88		48
Tamoxifen therapy
Yes	22 (33)	35	0.64	90	0.75	45	0.042
No	43 (66)	35		91		58
n.a	1 (1)
Aromatase inhibitor
Yes	19 (29)	50	0.29	85	0.22	50	0.35
No	46 (70)	35		91		39
n.a	1 (1)

Statistically significant values are in italics