Detection of circulating prostatic cells during radical prostatectomy.

The detection of micrometastasis of prostate cancer could help to decide more appropriate therapeutic strategies in an individual patient. We have developed a flow cytometric method for detecting cytokeratin-positive cells in the peripheral blood before, during and after radical prostatectomy in patients with prostatic carcinoma. By means of this technique we were able to detect a higher number of cytokeratin-positive cells in the intraoperative blood sample than in the pre- and postoperative blood sample in 15 patients with prostate cancer (P < 0.05). Our results show an increase in the number of cytokeratin-positive cells with increasing tumor stage and grade, as well a good correlation of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value with the number of cytokeratin-positive cells (r > 0.6). Our results underline the importance of no-touch techniques at prostatectomy to minimize release of tumor cells into the circulation during surgery. In the light of our results we consider that the indication for cell savers during radical prostatectomy should be reevaluated. The possibility of detecting single metastatic cells in peripheral blood will enable better individual patient management, and open up new modalities for diagnosing early prostate cancer and enhancing patient monitoring in relapse and tumor progression.