Surgical possibilities in the treatment of hepatic metastases

: 314 patients with liver metastases were admitted to the Department of Surgery. University of Angers, from 1963 to 1983. The primary sites include tumors of the colon and rectum (129 patients), pancreas (74 patients), stomach (51 patients), extrahepatic bile ducts (38 patients), esophagus (7 patients), small intestine (4 patients), ovaries (4 patients), kidney (3 patients) and 4 malignant melanomas. Surgical management of liver metastases was hepatectomy (23 cases) or wedge resection (4 cases) when metastases were solitary or multiple but unilateral, selective (2 patients), total (4 patients), temporary (4 patients), desarterialization or regional intraarterial chimiotherapy (12 patients) were performed for non resectable metastases. Most of the resections (22 cases) were done for apparently solitary metastases from colorectal cancer, while a palliative treatment was utilized for some hypervascular deposits from renal, ovarian and endocrine primary tumors. The operative mortality rate was 4 per cent (2 of 49 patients): one right, and one left hepatectomies. Nine patients survived more than 2 years after liver resection, two lived more than 4 years; the longest survival (62 months) occurred after plurisegmentectomies for carcinoid metastases. The results of palliative surgery were deceptive, 14 patients died within one year, 2 patients survived 2 years, and 1 patient had a 68 months survival after liver desarterialization for carcinoid metastases. We conclude that an agressive surgical approach in the treatment of solitary or multiple resectable liver metastases is based upon several tenets. The primary tumor, when the site is the colon or the rectum preferendly must be well differentiated, Dukes B class, especially with no evidence of extrahepatic metastases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)