BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in females. This study investigated the role and utility of CTC monitoring in evaluating the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We enrolled 286 female triple-negative breast cancer patients who were diagnosed at and received radical resection surgery in our hospital. Peripheral venous blood samples were collected preoperatively and at 3 and 7 days postoperative, and the Cell Search system was used to detect CTC in peripheral blood. We analyzed the relationship between preoperative CTC level and clinical pathological characteristics of patients. Kaplan-Meier method was used to establish progression-free survival curves and overall survival curves, we used the log-rank test to compare the survival rate, and we explored the effects of preoperative and postoperative CTC levels on patient survival.

RESULTS: Compared with preoperative levels, the average CTC content in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients was significantly increased at 3 days after surgery, and then decreased to the preoperative baseline level by 7 days after surgery. The 3-year overall survival rate and progression-free survival rate in patients with CTC >5/7.5 mL peripheral blood were significantly lower than in patients with CTC <5/7.5 mL peripheral blood detected preoperatively and at 3 and 7 days postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic monitoring of preoperative and postoperative CTC levels can accurately predict recurrence and progression of disease, and is important in postoperative monitoring and prognosis evaluation.

Keywords: Breast, Neoplastic Cells, Circulating, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms