title: Colorectal cancer liver metastasis trends in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate colorectal cancer (CRC) disease patterns, demographics, characteristics, stage at presentation, metastases, and survival rates of patients, particularly those with liver metastases, at our center as the first report from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective, single-center database study based on the histological diagnosis of CRC in patients seen at the King Khalid University Hospital between 2007 and 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  427 cases of CRC with a mean age at diagnosis of 55.47 ΁ 12.85 years, out of which 96% were resected. Stage II was predominant at presentation, followed by both stage III and IV, with the remainder being stage I. One hundred patients had distant metastases, of which the liver was the only location in 54 patients. Mean survival was 3.0 years. Overall survival rates for CRC patients with liver metastases who underwent resection were 30% at 2 years and 17% at 5 years, and the mean survival rate was 1.4 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the mean survival rate of our CRC patients with resectable liver metastases and the 5-year survival rate of these patients are lower than global averages. This discrepancy is likely due to late diagnoses rather than more aggressive disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, .
authors.forename: Mazen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassanain
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al-Alem
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, .
authors.forename: Eve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simoneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Thamer A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Traiki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alsaif
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Abdulsalam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alsharabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Heba
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Faris
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, .
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Saleh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate