Prognostic value of individual tumor cells in bone marrow, lymph nodes in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma

Abstract

The results of the examination of the bone marrow and distant lymph nodes for the presence of circulating tumor cells in 83 patients with non-small cell lung cancer T2-3N0M0, who had been radically operated, are given. Isolated tumor cells were determined by immune cytochemical and immune histochemical methods with the monoclonal antibodies to cytokeratins. Isolated tumor cells were detected in bone marrow in 30.1% and in lymph nodes in 20.5% of patients. The simultaneous presence of isolated tumor cells in bone marrow and lymph nodes was found in 18.1% of patients that significantly reduced the 3-year survival rate. Isolated tumor cells can be considered as a negative prognostic factor that must be taken into account when choosing the adjuvant treatment of lung carcinoma.