title: Occult tumour cells in peritoneal lavage are a negative prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that occult tumour cells in peritoneal lavage are a negative prognostic factor in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Real-time RT-PCR analysis of CEA, EGFR and hTERT transcript levels was used to identify occult tumour cells in peritoneal lavage samples from 96 pancreatic cancer patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant association between CEA expression levels in peritoneal lavage and clinical stage. We also found that EGFR transcript levels were higher in peritoneal lavage samples from patients with high grade tumours than in samples from patients with low grade tumours. Detection of CEA and/or EGFR occult tumour cell markers in the peritoneal lavage was associated with significantly shorter overall survival and increased hazard ratio for disease recurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show that the presence of occult tumour cells in peritoneal lavage is a negative prognostic factor for survival in pancreatic cancer patients, and that detection of occult tumour cells using PCR-based methods can identify patients with advanced disease for whom radical surgery is likely to have little benefit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, University Hospital Olomouc and Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Havlik
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Srovnal
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Klos
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benedikova
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lovecek
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghothim
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cahova
authors.forename: Cestmir
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neoral
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajduch
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D066246:ErbB Receptors; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase