Prognostic value of circulating tumor cells in patients with bladder cancer: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

BackgroundCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) have been considered diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for urothelial cancer. However, the prognostic role of CTCs in bladder cancer (BC) remains controversial. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of CTCs for patients with BC.MethodsAll studies relevant to this topic were searched in the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were set as effect measures. The outcomes were overall survival (OS), cancer-free survival (CSS), progression-free survival (PFS)/time to progression (TTP), and disease-free survival (DFS)/recurrence-free survival (RFS)/time to first recurrence (TFR). All analyses were conducted in STATA 15.1.ResultsEleven eligible studies comprising 1,062 patients with BC were included in this meta-analysis. Overall analyses showed that CTC-positive patients had poorer survival (OS: HR 3.88, 95% CI 2.52-5.96, p ConclusionThe meta-analysis confirmed that CTCs are a promising prognostic biomarker of poor survival and aggressive tumor progression for patients with BC.Prospero registration numberCRD42021224865.