Agrawal Nandini, Punia Rajpal S, Handa Uma, Attri Ashok K
Department of Pathology, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
Department of General Surgery, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
Indian J Pathol Microbiol. 2021 Apr-Jun;64(2):329-333. doi: 10.4103/IJPM.IJPM_855_20.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells present in the blood stream that are antigenically or genetically similar to a specific tumor type and are markers of tumor diagnosis, prognosis, residual disease and metastasis. The ever-increasing burden of breast cancer globally warrants the incorporation of this all-inclusive marker in the diagnostic repertoire using the simplest of techniques.
To identify CTCs in peripheral blood by cell block (CB) technique in cases of breast cancer diagnosed on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) or core needle biopsy (CNB) and to correlate their presence with nodal metastasis.
This study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, at a tertiary care hospital. Peripheral blood samples from a total of 30 cases of primary breast carcinoma diagnosed on FNA or CNB without prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy were analyzed using the CB technique.
The age ranged between 29-74 years with the most common presenting complaint being a palpable, single, unilateral breast lump. CTCs were detected in 2 (6.7%) cases with a <5 cell cluster with both the cases being grade I breast carcinomas and also displaying nodal metastasis.
循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）是存在于血流中的细胞，在抗原性或基因上与特定肿瘤类型相似，是肿瘤诊断、预后、残留疾病和转移的标志物。全球范围内乳腺癌负担日益加重，这就需要使用最简单的技术将这种全面的标志物纳入诊断方法中。
通过细胞块（CB）技术，在经细针穿刺抽吸（FNA）或粗针穿刺活检（CNB）诊断的乳腺癌病例中，识别外周血中的循环肿瘤细胞，并将其存在情况与淋巴结转移相关联。
本研究在一家三级护理医院的病理科进行。使用CB技术对总共30例未经新辅助化疗、经FNA或CNB诊断为原发性乳腺癌的外周血样本进行分析。
年龄在29 - 74岁之间，最常见的主诉是可触及的单侧单发乳腺肿块。在2例（6.7%）病例中检测到循环肿瘤细胞，细胞簇<5个，这2例均为I级乳腺癌，且伴有淋巴结转移。
