Table 2.

Associations of postoperative CTCs with basal characteristics, pre- and postoperative tumor biomarkers, and tumor recurrence in stage II-III CRC

Parameters	Subgroups	Postoperative CTCs		χ2	P-value
		Negative	Positive
Gender	Male	44	32	6.519	0.011
	Female	19	35
Age	≤62 yrs	40	21	13.474	<0.001
	>62 yrs	23	46
Tumor location	Rectum	25	22	0.659	0.417
	Colon	38	45
T stage	T1-2	10	10	0.022	0.881
	T3-4	53	57
N stage	N0	42	35	2.799	0.094
	N1-2	21	32
TNM stage	II	43	32	5.586	0.018
	III	20	35
Tumor differentiation	Poor	5	7	0.243	0.622
	Moderate/well	57	59
Preoperative CA125	Negative	52	48	2.763	0.096
	Positive	10	19
Preoperative CA19-9	Negative	59	56	3.225	0.073
	Positive	4	11
Preoperative CA72-4	Negative	56	59	0.007	0.931
	Positive	6	6
Preoperative CEA	Negative	49	41	4.192	0.041
	Positive	14	26
Preoperative CTCs	Negative	37	29	3.100	0.078
	Positive	26	38
Postoperative CA125	Negative	33	39	2.483	0.115
	Positive	8	20
Postoperative CA19-9	Negative	59	58	1.810	0.178
	Positive	4	9
Postoperative CA72-4	Negative	60	59	2.160	0.142
	Positive	3	8
Postoperative CEA	Negative	57	61	0.013	0.911
	Positive	6	6
Tumor recurrence	No recurrence	54	48	8.073	0.004
	Recurrence	3	15

Abbreviations: CRC, colorectal cancer; CTCs, circulating tumor cells; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CA125, carbohydrate antigen 125; CA19-9, carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CA72-4, carbohydrate antigen 72-4. Note, Bold, indicates the association was significant; Italic, indicates a trend of association (0.5≤P<0.1).