Table 3.

Clinicopathological characteristics of BC patients with ≥ 2 or < 2 CTC, with US BI-RADS score ≥ 4b or < 4b, and with MMG BI-RADS score ≥ 4b or < 4b.

Groups	n	CTC		p Value*	US BI-RADS		p Value*	MMG BI-RADS		p Value*
		≥ 2	< 2		≥ 4b	< 4b		≥ 4b	< 4b
BC Patients	238	174	64	<0.0001	189	49	<0.0001	137	101	<0.0001
Patients with BBD	217	19	198		45	172		19	198
Healthy volunteers	20	0	20		0	20		0	20
(All BC patients number = 238)
AJCC Stage				0.0021			0.0034			0.1573
0	17	8	9		8	9		7	10
I	82	56	26		62	20		42	40
II	106	83	23		89	17		65	41
III	31	27	4		28	3		21	10
IV	2	0	2		2	0		2	0
Tumor Size				0.0444			0.0054			0.1857
Tis	17	8	9		8	9		7	10
T1	117	83	34		91	26		63	54
T2	91	71	20		78	13		57	34
T3	11	10	1		10	1		9	2
T4	2	2	0		2	0		1	1
Lymph Node Metastasis				0.0086			0.0271			0.0195
Yes	96	79	17		83	13		64	32
No	142	95	47		106	36		73	69

BC, breast cancer; CTC, circulating tumor cell; US, ultrasound; BI-RADS, breast imaging-reporting and data system; MMG, mammogram; n, number of patients; BBD, benign breast diseases; AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer; Tis, tumor in situ.

^*Based on the Youden index analysis, CTC, US and MMG cut-off values were 2, 4b, and 4b, respectively. Subjects with more than 2 CTC, or with US or MMG BI-RADS score higher than 4b are classified as CTC, US and MMG positive for diagnosis, respectively. The p value of comparisons is based on the positive proportion among groups.

Bold values mean statistical significances.