Fig. 1.

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are associated with increased coagulation plasma markers in metastatic breast cancer. CTC number in 7.5 ml peripheral whole blood samples enumerated by the CellSearch technology compared to plasma coagulation markers a thrombin–antithrombin III complex (TAT), b fibrinogen and c, dd-dimer in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Unpaired two-tailed t tests comparing Log₂ transformed raw coagulation marker concentrations + 1 to CTC group, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Error bars show standard error of the mean (SEM); n number of MBC patients in each group, TAT thrombin–antithrombin III complex, CTC circulating tumour cell