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 preeminence in specificity (approximately 100%). Conclusion: So far, given the imperfection of each method, employment of both cytology and molecular examination seem to be mandatory.