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Updated: Jul 6, 2025
Detection and Monitoring of Tumor Associated Circulating DNA in Patient Biofluids
Published on: June 8, 2019
Circulating Tumor DNA in the Immediate Postoperative Setting
Vasileios Efthymiou1, Natalia Queenan1, Markus Haas1
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as an accurate real-time biomarker of disease status across many solid tumor types. Most studies evaluating the utility of ctDNA have focused on time points weeks to months after surgery, which, for many cancer types, is significantly later than decision-making time points for adjuvant treatment. In this systematic review, we summarize the state of the literature on the feasibility of using ctDNA as a biomarker in the immediate postoperative period.
Methods:
We performed a systematic review evaluating the early kinetics, defined here as 3 days of ctDNA in patients who underwent curative-intent surgery.
Results:
Among the 2057 studies identified, eight cohort studies met the criteria for evaluation. Across six different cancer types, all studies showed an increased risk of cancer recurrence in patients with detectable ctDNA in the immediate postoperative period.
Conclusion:
While ctDNA clearance kinetics appear to vary based on tumor type, across all studies detectable ctDNA after surgery was predictive of recurrence, suggesting early postoperative time points could be feasibly used for determining minimal residual disease. However, larger studies need to be performed to better understand the precise kinetics of ctDNA clearance across different cancer types as well as to determine optimal postoperative time points.
