Eligibility Details:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Subjects older than 18 years.
- Subjects of all genders and ethnicities.
- Subjects with the diagnosis of a solid cancer (n=100) of all stages will be included
(lung, esophageal, stomach, bile duct/pancreas, colorectal, melanoma, sarcoma).
- Ten patients with no present suspicion and no previous history of any cancer (except
basal cell cancer of the skin) that undergo surgeries for other benign indications
will serve as controls (n=10).
- In patients undergoing surgery for cancer the histopathology should preferably be
pathologically proven by a previous or novel biopsy. Yet, patients with a high cancer
suspicion by radiology and clinical picture that undergo cancer surgery will not be
excluded. No additional biopsies, testing or interventions will be performed for the
purpose of this study if the medical treatment will not require it.
- Subjects must be capable of giving informed consent.
- Lung cancer screening eligibility criteria (n=100): 55-80 years old, >30 pack years
smoking history, and current smoker or have quit within the last 15 years)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Pregnant women.
- Subjects with the concurrent diagnosis of an active secondary (synchronous) malignancy
besides basal cell carcinoma of the skin will be excluded, if there is evidence of
disease burden or if the patient is currently being treated with chemotherapy.
- Subjects with a hemoglobin of <8g/dl in the morning of the procedure will be excluded.
- In subjects who require intraoperative transfusions of >4 units of red packed blood
cells (RPBCs), no further blood will be drawn for CTC/DTC/cfDNA analysis during
surgery or on postoperative day 1.
- In patients with coagulation disorders that could lead to significant bleeding (such
as hemophilia, significant thrombocytopenia) requiring prophylactic administration of
coagulative products, no bone marrow aspiration will be performed.