Surgical options in the treatment of hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer.

Overview

Current data indicate that liver resection is the only available treatment that regularly produces long-term survival with possible cure in patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma to the liver. Although a number of clinical or pathologic factors predicts a poor outcome, the only absolute contraindications to liver resection are general health incompatible with recovery from major hepatic resection or clear evidence of wide dissemination of disease. Important areas for future study include the potential role of adjuvant regional chemotherapy after resection and cryoablation of "close" margins. For patients with unresectable disease, operative therapy also plays an important role. Multiple operative modalities hold promise in palliative treatment in the setting of clinically incurable disease. It is imperative that a large randomized trial of regional chemotherapy be performed allowing no crossover and with mortality as an endpoint. Additionally, the role of cryoablation begs systematic investigation to ensure proper use of this modality.