Background: The liver is a major target organ for metastases of various types of cancers. Surgery is a well-established option for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Regarding the improved surgical and anesthetic techniques, the safety of liver resection has increased. Consequently, the interest in the surgical management of non-colorectal liver metastases (non-CRLM) has gained significant attention. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the surgical treatment outcomes for non-CRLM and to compare it with an outcome of CRLM in a tertiary care center in the Baltic country-Lithuania.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from all patients who underwent liver resection for CRLM or non-CRLM between 2010 and 2017 in a tertiary care center-Vilnius University hospital Santaros Clinics. Demographic and metastasis characteristics, as well as disease-free and overall survival, were compared between the study groups.
Results: In total, 149 patients were included in the study. Patients in the CRLM group were older (63.2 ± 1.01 vs 54.1 ± 1.8 years, p < 0.001) and mainly predominant by males. Overall postoperative morbidity rate (16.3% vs 9.8%, p = 0.402) and major complications rate (10% vs 7.8%, p = 0.704) after liver resection for CRLM and non-CRLM was similar. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed higher disease-free survival in the CRLM group with 89.4% vs 76.5% and 64.9% vs 31.4% survival rates at 1 and 3 years, respectively (p = 0.042), although overall survival was not different between the CRLM and non-CRLM groups with 89.4% vs 78.4% and 72.0% vs 46.1% survival rates at 1 and 3 years, respectively (p = 0.300).
Conclusions: In this study, we confirmed comparable short- and long-term outcomes after liver resection for CRLM and non-CRLM. Surgical resection should be encouraged as an option in well-selected patients with non-CRLM.