Fig 1.
PRISMA flow Chart of literature search and study selection.
Table 1.
Main characteristics of the eligible studies.
Table 2.
Main results.
Fig 2.
Forest plot showing the meta-analysis of hazard ratio estimates for OS in overall patients.
OS = overall survival.
Fig 3.
Forest plot showing the meta-analysis of hazard ratio estimates for OS in “Other ICC” subgroup, “Cellsearch” subgroup and “RT-PCR” subgroup.
Subgroup analysis based on different CTC detection methods. OS = overall survival; ICC = immunocytochemistry; RT-PCR = reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; CTC = circulating tumor cell.
Fig 4.
Forest plot showing the meta-analysis of hazard ratio estimates for OS in “Surgery” subgroup and “Chemotherapy” subgroup.
Subgroup analysis based on different treatment methods. OS = overall survival.
Fig 5.
Forest plot showing the meta-analysis of hazard ratio estimates for DFS/PFS in overall patients.
DFS = disease-free survival; PFS = progression-free survival.
Fig 6.
Forest plots of the association between CTCs and CA-125.
CTCs = circulating tumor cells.
Fig 7.
Sensitivity analysis for the pooled HRs in OS.
The analysis was conducted by estimating the average HR in the absence of each study. HRs = hazard ratios; OS = overall survival.
Fig 8.
Begg’s funnel plots of the prognostic role of CTCs in OS.
CTCs = circulating tumor cells; OS = overall survival.