Synchronous colorectal liver metastasis in patients without node metastasis: possibility of localized liver metastasis.
OBJECTIVE
The liver is the most common distant site of metastasis from colorectal cancer and is often the only organ affected. We hypothesized that whether distant disease is localized in the liver or is a more systemic disease, may be important in the prognosis of patients with synchronous liver metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of localized liver metastasis in cases with colorectal synchronous liver metastasis and without lymph node involvement.


METHODS
Three hundred and twenty-five consecutive patients who underwent colorectal resection were identified for inclusion in this study, of which 24 cases with synchronous liver metastasis were detected. Of these, 11 who underwent curative simultaneous surgical resection of primary tumor and liver metastases were analyzed in this study. The clinical and pathological features of these cases were reviewed.


RESULTS
Of the 11 patients with synchronous liver metastasis from colorectal cancer, 4 had disease recurrence, but none of those without regional node involvement had disease recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, only regional node metastases were significantly associated with disease recurrence. Recurrence-free interval by Kaplan-Meier curves differed significantly among patients with positive regional nodes.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results imply that synchronous liver metastasis without regional lymph node metastasis is localized disease.
Takaaki
T
Fujii
Toshinaga
T
Sutoh
Hiroki
H
Morita
Toshihide
T
Katoh
Reina
R
Yajima
Kenichiro
K
Araki
Shigeru
S
Sasaki
Satoru
S
Yamaguchi
Soichi
S
Tsutsumi
Hideki
H
Suzuki
Takayuki
T
Asao
Hiroyuki
H
Kuwano
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000473:pathology*