Surgical therapy for colorectal liver metastases: Prospects and limits

Abstract

40 % of patients suffering from colorectal cancer will develop liver metastases during the course of their disease. Advances in both surgical technique and perioperative management lead to a decrease in postoperative morbidity and mortality. Against the background of an increasing understanding of tumor biology as well as excellent survival data following hepatic resection, the indication for liver resection has been extended in specialized surgical centers. Similarly the intention to treat changed from a standardized resection towards an individual and interdisciplinary therapy including preoperative chemotherapy, staged liver resection and resection of extrahepatic disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the current value of hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastases in the interdisciplinary oncological concept. It specially addresses these challenging situations where palliative chemotherapy seemed to be the only reasonable way of therapy in past.