人们很早就发现外周血中可以检测到恶性肿瘤细胞(包括实体瘤细胞),但由于传统的细胞学方法是通过血涂片在显微镜下根据形态学检测肿瘤细胞,其特异性和敏感性均很低,重复性差,肿瘤细胞很难与外周血中的有核细胞相鉴别。因此,其临床应用受到限制。近些年,随着检测手段的不断改进和更新,检测方法的敏感性和特异性有了明显的提高,在外周血中检测恶性实体瘤细胞的重要性和可行性已逐渐被人们所认识。现将其研究进展概述如下。 People have early discovered that malignant tumor cells (including solid tumor cells) can be detected in the peripheral blood, but because the traditional cytological method is to detect tumor cells by microscopic examination under the microscope, its specificity and sensitivity are both Very low, poor reproducibility, tumor cells are difficult to identify with nucleated cells in peripheral blood. Therefore, its clinical application is limited. In recent years, with the continuous improvement and update of detection methods, the sensitivity and specificity of detection methods have been significantly improved. The importance and feasibility of detecting malignant solid tumor cells in peripheral blood has been gradually recognized by people. The research progress is summarized below.