Gastric Cancer Cells in Peritoneal Lavage Fluid: A Systematic Review Comparing Cytological with Molecular Detection for Diagnosis of Peritoneal Metastases and Prediction of Peritoneal Recurrences.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Detecting free tumor cells in the peritoneal lavage fluid of gastric cancer patients permits to assess a more accurate prognosis, predict peritoneal recurrence and select cases for a more aggressive treatment. Currently, cytology and molecular biology comprise the two most popular methods of detection that are under constant study by researchers.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We burrowed into the available literature comparing cytological with molecular detection of free intraperitoneal gastric cancer cells. PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar were the search engines investigated.

RESULTS

As of 2017, 51 dedicated studies have been published. Messenger RNA of carcinoembryonic antigen was the genetic target most frequently described. The genetic technique is usually superior to cytology in sensitivity (38-100% vs. 12.3-67% respectively), whereas cytological examination tends to show a slight pre-eminence in specificity (approximately 100%).

CONCLUSION

So far, given the imperfection of each method, employment of both cytology and molecular examination seem to be mandatory.