Detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with non-small cell lung cancer undergoing lobectomy by video-assisted thoracic surgery: A potentialhazard for intraoperative hematogenous tumor cell dissemination

Objective: We prospectively tested whether circulating tumor cells can be f ound in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative peripheral bloo d of patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer who undergo video- assisted lobectomy. Methods: We assayed for carcinoembryonic antigen messenger RNA (mRNA) by re verse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in the peripheral blood taken before, during, just after the completion of the lobectomy and then 2 to 3 weeks, and again 5 to 6 weeks, after the operation in 29 patients with pat hologic stage I non-small cell lung cancer who underwent video-assisted lob ectomy. We also analyzed the prognostic value of carcinoembryonic antigen m RNA expression pattern in an additional 57 patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancel; whose blood samples were previously assayed for carcinoem bryonic antigen mRNA. Results: Of the 29 patients, the preoperative blood samples from 18 patient s were negative for carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA. Of these 18 patients, 16 (89%) had positive test results during operation, although the remaining 2 patients (11%) consistently showed negative test results. The occurrence o f this change from negative to positive tests results for carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA during video-assisted lobectomy was significantly higher than in patients who underwent open lobectomy in a previous study (18 of 35 pati ents; 51%; P < .001). In the 57 patients with stage I cancer whose blood sa mples were previously assayed for carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA, patients w ith persistently positive test results for carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA be fore and during operation had a significantly shorter survival when compare d with those patients whose test results were persistently positive. Conclusions: Video-assisted lobectomy, as compared with open lobectomy, for non-small cell lung cancer may increase the risk of seeding tumor cells in to the circulation during operation.