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Immunocytochemical detection of occult tumor cells in the bone marrow: prognostic impact on early stages of lung cancer
European Surgical Research, 07/03/08

Nosotti M et al. - Immunocytochemical analysis detects occult tumor cells in the bone marrow of at least 25% of pt surgically treated for stage I and II non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); these occult tumor cells have no impact on the disease-free interval

Methods

Study to verify the prognostic impact of occult tumor cells in the bone marrow of stage I and II NSCLC pts using cytokeratin as a micrometastatic marker
Review of 152 pts with stage I and II NSCLC who had radical surgery by pulmonary lobectomy
Anti-cytokeratin 18 antibody stain of bone marrow from fragments of resected ribs and primary tumors
Controls: 14 bone marrow specimens from pts without malignancy
End point: cancer recurrence

Results

All primary tumors positive for cytokeratin
Occult tumor cells found in 38 bone marrow specimens (25%)
Prevalence of occult tumor cells was not related to age, gender, tumor stage, histologic differentiation or grade
Mean follow-up was 35.3 mo
Recurrence in 68 pts; mean time to recurrence: 21.2 mo
General disease-free interval not related to presence of occult tumor cells in bone marrow, which did not change with pts grouped by tumor stage
Stage was the best predictor of cancer recurrence