[Neoadjuvant therapy concepts for liver metastases]

Colorectal cancer with liver metastases: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgical resection first or palliation alone?

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the commonest cancers with 1.2 million new cases diagnosed each year in the world. It remains the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the world and accounts for > 600000 cancer-related deaths each year. There have been significant advances in treatment of metastatic CRC in last decade or so, due to availability of new active targeted agents and more aggressive approach towards the management of CRC, particularly with liver-only-metastases; however, these drugs work best when combined with conventional chemotherapy agents. Despite these advances, there is a lack of biomarkers to inform us about the accurate management of the patients with metastatic CRC. It is therefore imperative to carefully select the patients with comprehensive multi-disciplinary team input in order to optimise the management of these patients. In this review we will discuss various treatment options available in management of colorectal liver metastases with potential guidance on how and when to choose these options along with consideration on future directions in management of this disease.

[Assessment of resectability of colorectal liver metastases and extended resection]

Most patients with colorectal liver metastases are treated within a multimodal therapy regime whereby liver resection is a key point in the curative treatment concept. The achievement of an R0 situation is of vital importance for long-term survival. Besides general operability and the assessment of comorbidities, resection depends on the quality of liver parenchyma (functional resectability) and the anatomical position of the tumor (oncological resectability). The improvement of operation techniques and perioperative medicine nowadays allow complex surgical procedures for metastasis surgery. This article presents the methods for the assessment of resectability and modern strategies of preoperative conditioning as well as approaches for extended liver resection.