Table 1.
Patients’ clinicopathologic characteristics in entire cohort and per baseline CTC status.
| All Pts (n = 1220) | CTCs (+) (n = 483) | CTCs (−) (n = 737) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | P-value | |
| Age | ||||
| Median (min–max) | 53 (25–83) | 54 (26–83) | 53 (25–81) | 0.870 |
| Menopausal status | ||||
| Pre-menopausal | 552 (45.2) | 225 (46.6) | 327 (44.4) | 0.447 |
| Post-menopausal | 668 (54.8) | 258 (53.4) | 410 (55.6) | |
| Tumour size | ||||
| ≤2 cm | 505 (45.1) | 179 (37.1) | 326 (44.5) | 0.010 |
| >2 cm | 710 (63.4) | 304 (62.9) | 406 (55.5) | |
| NA | 5 (0.4) | |||
| Nodal status | ||||
| Negative | 460 (37.7) | 164 (34.2) | 296 (40.4) | 0.028 |
| Positive | 752 (61.6) | 316 (65.8) | 436 (59.6) | |
| NA | 8 (0.7) | |||
| Oestrogen receptor | ||||
| Positive | 809 (66.3) | 319 (66.5) | 490 (67.3) | 0.759 |
| Negative | 399 (32.7) | 161 (33.5) | 238 (32.7) | |
| NA | 12 (1.0) | |||
| Progesterone receptor | ||||
| Positive | 757 (62.0) | 291 (60.6) | 466 (64.2) | 0.210 |
| Negative | 449 (36.8) | 189 (39.4) | 260 (35.9) | |
| NA | 14 (1.2) | |||
| HER2 | ||||
| Positive | 247 (20.2) | 93 (19.5) | 154 (21.3) | 0.468 |
| Negative | 953 (78.1) | 383 (80.5) | 570 (78.7) | |
| NA | 20 (1.6) | |||
| Subtype | ||||
| ER+/HER2− | 755 (61.9) | 291 (66.3) | 464 (64.3) | 0.100 |
| HER2+ | 244 (20.0) | 92 (19.4) | 152 (21.1) | |
| TNBC | 198 (16.2) | 92 (19.4) | 106 (14.7) | |
| NA | 23 (1.9) | |||
| Grade | ||||
| I | 24 (2.2) | 6 (1.4) | 18 (2.7) | 0.247 |
| II | 541 (48.9) | 223 (50.7) | 318 (47.7) | |
| III | 541 (48.9) | 211 (48.0) | 330 (49.5) | |
| Ki-67 | ||||
| ≤20% | 336 (27.5) | 107 (48.9) | 229 (63.1) | 0.001 |
| >21% | 246 (20.2) | 112 (51.1) | 134 (36.9) | |
| NA | 638 (52.3) | |||
| Type of surgery | ||||
| BCS | 810 (66.4) | 314 (65.0) | 496 (67.3) | 0.179 |
| Mastectomy | 406 (33.3) | 169 (35.0) | 237 (32.2) | |
| NA | 4 (0.3) | - | 4 (0.5) | |
| Adjuvant chemotherapy | ||||
| TC | 110 (9.0) | 31 (6.4) | 79 (10.7) | 0.066 |
| Anthracycline | 248 (20.3) | 105 (21.7) | 143 (19.4) | |
| Anthracycline and Taxane | 747 (61.2) | 308 (63.8) | 439 (59.6) | |
| Other Chemo | 72 (5.9) | 27 (5.6) | 45 (6.1) | |
| Endocrine only | 38 (3.1) | 11 (2.3) | 27 (3.7) | |
| No adjuvant | 5 (0.4) | 1 (0.2) | 4 (0.5) | |
| Adjuvant endocrine | ||||
| Yes | 976 (80.0) | 375 (77.6) | 601 (81.5) | 0.095 |
| No | 244 (20.0) | 108 (22.4) | 136 (18.5) | |
CTC circulating tumour cell, ER oestrogen receptor, HER2 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, TC docetaxel/cyclophosphamide, TNBC triple-negative breast cancer.