Conclusion
CTCs detected by FCM in portal venous blood are of significant value for the prediction of postoperative metastasis in pancreatic or periampullary tumors.
Methods
Samples of portal venous blood and peripheral blood were collected from 39 patients during surgery, and CTCs were detected by FCM, with confirmation by laser confocal microscopy and single-cell sequencing.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of flow cytometry (FCM) detection of portal vein circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in predicting postoperative metastasis.
Results
Among all patients, a portal EpCAM+CD45- percentage ≥24.5×10-4 (P=0.06), peripheral EpCAM+CD45- count ≥97/5 mL (P=0.034), peripheral EpCAM+CD45- percentage ≥4.4×10-4 (P=0.042), and CA242≥3.5 U/mL (P=0.027) were significant predictors of metastasis. Further analysis showed that the portal EpCAM+CD45- ratio ≥24.5×10-4 is a predictor of metastasis (P=0.025) in pancreatic cancer after curative resection.