Circulating tumour cells and lung microvascular tumour cell retention in patients with metastatic breast and cervical cancer

Abstract We have shown that in up to half of the patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), higher numbers of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are present in the central venous blood (CVB) compared to the peripheral venous blood (PVB), suggesting that the lungs might retain a substantial number of CTCs. Here we report the presence of tumour cell emboli (TCE) in the microvasculature of the lungs in three out of eight patients with MBC and one patient with metastatic cervical carcinoma who had markedly elevated numbers of CTCs in the blood. All these patients suffered from symptomatic dyspnoea not easily attributable to other causes. No TCE were observed in five patients with MBC and elevated CTC counts and three patients with MBC who had low CTC counts (