Circulating tumor cells in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma of the bladder: Association with tumor stage, lymph node metastases, FDG-PET findings, and survival

CTCs were present in 19% of patients with advanced urothelial tumors and were associated with metastatic disease on FDG-PET-CT and with increased risk of disease progression after RC. A significant portion of urothelial cancer cells do express EpCAM and can thus be identified using EpCAM-antigen-based CTC detection methods.