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