Advances in Microfluidic Techniques for Detection and Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are released from the primary tumors into the bloodstream. These CTCs hold a crucial role in cancer metastasis; hence, they could be used for early diagnosis of cancer, evaluation of cancer development, and even helpful in drug development. In recent years, many novel microfluidic-based techniques for CTCs detection and isolation are explored. However, still, they cannot fulfill the current clinical requirement because of numerous current technological limitations. The heterogeneous nature of CTCs makes it further complicated. This chapter provides current advancements in CTC detection and isolation in a microfluidics platform. Different techniques are evaluated based on various parameters, such as purity, throughput, and cell viability. We discussed the concepts, limitations, advantages, drawbacks, and challenges, and at the end, we also discussed future application prospect.