Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p>To investigate the value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and Ki-67 in predicting the prognosis of bladder cancer. Here, we tested CTC counts and Ki-67 levels to assess patient prognosis.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>84 patients with bladder cancer who underwent surgery were included in this study. Peripheral blood CTCs were detected by SE-iFISH technology before and after surgery, and Ki-67 levels were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The association between CTCs and Ki-67 and the combination of the two was analyzed to predict the prognosis of patients.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>76 out of 84 patients (90.5%) were positive. ROC curve analysis showed that preoperative and postoperative CTC counts = 4 and 2 were the best thresholds for predicting patient recurrence or death. In multivariate analysis, high postoperative CTC count (≥ 2) (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.001) and Ki-67 high expression (≥ 15%) (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.001) were independent poor prognostic factors for PFS in bladder cancer patients. In addition, the study found that Ki-67 levels were positively correlated with high postoperative CTC counts, Bladder cancer patients with Ki-67 high expression and high postoperative CTC counts were associated with extremely poor progression-free survival.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>
<jats:p>Ki-67 high expression is associated with high postoperative CTC counts, both of which predict poor prognosis in bladder cancer patients.</jats:p>
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