Table 1 Patient characteristics and prevalence of CTCs.

Age

52.7 (23–84)

53.6 (34–84)

51.7 (23–79)

Histology

Ductal carcinoma in situ

11

3 (27.2%)

8 (72.8%)

Invasive ductal carcinoma

88

48 (54.5%)

40 (45.5%)

Other types

11

4 (36.4%)

7 (63.6%)

Intrinsic subtype

Luminal A-like

25

11 (44.0%)

14 (56.0%)

Luminal B-like (HER2 negative)

32

13 (40.6%)

19 (59.4%)

Luminal B-like (HER2 positive)

24

15 (62.5%)

9 (37.5%)

Erb-B2 overexpression

19

10 (52.6%)

9 (47.4%)

Basal-like

10

6 (60.0%)

4 (40.0%)

Stage

0

8

2 (25.0%)

6 (75.0%)

I

19

11 (57.9%)

8 (42.1%)

II

38

25 (65.8%)

13 (34.2%)

III

18

8 (44.4%)

10 (55.6%)

IV

20

6 (30.0%)

14 (70.0%)

N/A

7

Risk categories

Low risk

8

2 (25.0%)

6 (75.0%)

Intermediate risk

62

39 (62.9%)

23 (37.1%)

High risk

34

13 (38.2%)

21 (61.8%)

N/A

6

Tumour (TNM staging)

0

7

2 (28.6%)

5 (71.4%)

1

37

19 (51.4%)

18 (48.6%)

2

55

31 (56.4%)

24 (43.6%)

3

7

1 (14.3%)

6 (85.7%)

4

2

2 (100%)

0 (0%)

N/A

2

Node (TNM staging)

0

53

29 (54.7%)

24 (45.3%)

1

16

11 (68.7%)

5 (31.3%)

2

15

6 (40.0%)

9 (60.0%)

3

12

4 (33.3%)

8 (66.7%)

N/A

14

Metastasis (TNM staging)

0

89

49 (55.1%)

40 (44.9%)

1

20

6 (30.0%)

14 (70.0%)

N/A

1

ER

Negative

33

17 (51.5%)

16 (48.5%)

Positive

77

38 (49.4%)

39 (50.6%)

PR

Negative

63

31 (49.2%)

32 (50.8%)

Positive

47

24 (51.1%)

23 (48.9%)

Her-2

Negative

67

31 (46.3%)

36 (53.7%)

Positive

43

24 (55.8%)

19 (44.2%)

Ki67

 ≤ 20%

41

19 (46.3%)

22 (53.7%)

 > 20%

69

36 (52.2%)

33 (47.8%)