Background/aims: Few studies have investigated grading of liver metastasis (GLM) in patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer (LM-CRC).
Methodology: To screen for the most useful predictive factors in patients undergoing hepatic resection for LM-CRC, clinico-pathological factors were subjected to uni- and multivariate analyses.
Results: One hundred and twenty-five patients were evaluated retrospectively. Univariate analyses using clinico-laboratory factors demonstrated that nomogram, gender, CRP, albumin, number of hepatic resections, liver metastasis (H) and GLM were related to postoperative death. Multivariate analysis using these seven factors disclosed that albumin (OR, 6.949; 95% CI, 1.994-24.22; p=0.002), CRP (OR, 6.977; 95% CI, 1.937-25.14; p=0.003) and GLM (OR, 2.819; 95% CI, 1.082-7.346; p=0.034) were associated with postoperative death. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log rank test revealed that higher GLM (p<0.001) and CRP (p<0.001) were associated with a higher rate of postoperative death. GLM was able to divide the patients into three independent groups with significantly different total nomogram counts (p<0.001, Kruskal-Wallis test).
Conclusions: GLM is able to classify patients with LM-CRC into three independent groups and offers reliable information for predicting postoperative death in such patients.