Oral cancer patients with low numbers of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) live longer than patients with more cells. This conclusion has come to the fore in a study conducted by Indian researchers.
A team of Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, Dr. Jayant Khandare from Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and Actors Oncodiscover from Pune, conducted a four-year trial of 500 patients with head and neck cancer.
In addition, 152 patients with oral cancer were analyzed and 1.5 ml of blood per patient was tested for CTC. The study is published in the journal ‘Triple OOO’. There are about 14 lakh cancer patients in India.
In conclusion it emerged
The study found that patients with more than 20 CTCs per 1.5 ml of blood were more likely to progress to dangerous levels of disease and break away from the original site of cancer cells. Whereas, patients with less than 12 CTCs per 1.5 ml of blood have a higher chance of survival.