CTC circulating tumor cell count

[Steel67]

I haven’t seen too much mention of CTC tests when PSA rises. Some rises at very low levels are not clearly correlated or confirmed by PET scans. So why isn’t CTC used, too expensive, inaccurate, most men lack a baseline test? Just curious if anyone tests this and what their experience has been

[NanoMRI]

I have my third annual coming up. So far my results are "Not Detected". I find this very useful, and if not supporting certainly not negating my treatment strategies. Some members and doctors say way to early in my case - I say they don't understand my focus to not give this beast time and obscurity

Why such limited use? My view - most doctors training preceded these tests so they simply don't know and have no experience; generally it takes years to achieve widespread availability; few patients know of them so don't ask for one; it seems few see value in negative results, whether it be this test, imaging, etc; similar to those who do not see value in ultra sensitive PSA testing.

[street-air in reply to NanoMRI]

I wonder the same. I would want to know if I had no circulating tumor cells or some and the level. We are told as patients oh tiny psa readings can be ignored after all some cells in the body do still make some psa that would be a lot easier to digest if you had no CTCs and on the other hand if tiny psa goes up and there are CTCs or rising CTCs it seems naively to be pretty much a red flag so yeah where can I get the test.

[Steel67 in reply to street-air]

exactly, I see so many posters legitimately concerned about rising PSAs, but still under 2 or 0.2. for that matter. If you could correlate PSA with CTC that would give you perspective from two distinct angles on your disease dynamics- and help one make a more informed decision on next steps…

[Steel67 in reply to Steel67]

By the way you can google CTC cancer and several providers pop up

[street-air in reply to Steel67]

I read through this study and the devil is in the details of course. It mentions a previous study that found no correlation between ctcs and bcr but postulates that the volume of blood drawn and the way the tumor cells morph may have disguised the signal. So they are running a 4 year study with a different ctc test to see if there is a predictive power.

bmccancer.biomedcentral.com...

it seems to me one ctc test is nearly useless you would need two or more to compare results to look for changes. bottom line is although there are ctc tests it isnt clear what test is best when in ultra low psa territory or what a score on the test actually means for bcr. Here it costs abour $3k for a test so although I can get it, not really sure what to make of the result it might give!

[6357axbz]

CTC blood tests require a special tube for specimen collection. Many labs don’t stock these.