Circulating and Disseminated Tumour Cells in Breast Carcinoma: Report from the Consensus Conference on Tumour Cell Dissemination during the 38th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Senology, Berlin, 14 June 2018.

Haematogenic dissemination of tumour cells in breast carcinoma is among the most intensively researched areas in translational oncology. Large meta-analyses have shown the prognostic relevance of the disseminated tumour cells in the bone marrow and circulating tumour cells in the peripheral blood in the adjuvant as well as metastatic setting. The current status of the research was discussed in detail during the annual meeting of the German Society of Senology in Berlin. The following conference report gives an overview of the clinical study landscape and the new methodological developments for improving the detection and phenotyping of the circulating and disseminated tumour cells.