Factors affecting the finding of cancer cells in the blood

Abstract

649reduction of wound infection, but reasons are given for believing that compared with improvements in air cleanliness these are relatively insignificant. 4.The only exception to variables other than clean air that might have contributed significantly to the improvement in sterility is an improved form of wound closure. How far this contributed to the final level of wound infection cannot be decided on the figures available.

Detection of pancreatic and gastric cancer cells in peripheral and portal blood by amplification of keratin 19 mRNA with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction

“…These positivity rates are much lower than those reported in previous studies using conventional cytological examination prior to 1960, that demonstrated circulating cancer cells in the peripheral and/or portal blood in as high as 30-40% patients in a variety of malignant diseases (Engell, 1955;Fisher and Turnbull, 1955;Moore et al, 1957;Pruitt et al, 1958). This high frequency, however, has been contradicted in later studies using strict cytological criteria, reporting that cancer cells were found in ,10% of patients (Sellwood et al, 1969). Leather et al (1993) have studied cancer cells in the peripheral blood obtained from colorectal cancer patients (n 5 42) by both conventional cytological examination and immunocytological (anticytokeratin antibody) examination.…”