RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The detection of circulating breast cancer cells in blood
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 903
OP 911
DO 10.1136/jcp.2003.013755
VO 57
IS 9
A1 A M Gilbey
A1 D Burnett
A1 R E Coleman
A1 I Holen
YR 2004
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/57/9/903.abstract
AB At present, sampling of the lymph nodes or bone marrow for the detection of regions of metastatic disease in patients with breast cancer can only be undertaken at the time of initial diagnosis and surgery. However, the sampling of these tissues and the methods used are inaccurate, time consuming, and cannot be used for easy routine screening to determine disease recurrence and response to treatment. Because of the problems encountered with current methods and tissues sampled at the time of breast cancer diagnosis, this review discusses the urgent requirement for and potential development of a quick, simple, and accurate diagnostic test utilising the haematogenous system, a source of circulating tumour cells in patients with breast cancer, and highly sensitive molecular biological techniques, such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. In addition, this review also highlights potential problems that may be encountered and should be avoided when devising such a test.