Dupré A, et al. – Comparison of the outcomes after curative–intent ablation and resection in patients with recurrent colorectal liver metastases was performed. Researchers realized that improved overall survival could be achieved with ablation or resection for liver–limited recurrence after surgery for colorectal liver metastases in comparison to systemic chemotherapy alone, and thus should always be considered for patients with resectable liver recurrence. Despite an association with a shorter progression–free survival, ablation resulted in significantly lower post–procedure morbidity. They thereby suggested making choice between ablation and resection on a personalised basis.

Methods

• A retrospective analysis was performed of data from 366 consecutive patients who underwent liver resection for colorectal liver metastases between June 2010 and August 2015.
• In this study, sixty-four developed liver-limited recurrence which was treated with curative intent, thirty-three (51.6%) by ablation and 31 (48.4%) by repeat resection.

Results

• Researchers well matched the patient groups; surgically resected patients indicated higher pre-operative carcinoembryonic antigen levels and larger metastases.
• They identified fewer post-operative complications and shorter length of stay in the ablation group (p<0.02).
• After a median follow-up of 36.2 months, the resected and ablated groups were similar regarding median overall survival (33.3 months).
• Longer median progression-free survival was observed for patients treated with surgery (10.2 months) compared to ablation (4.3 months) (p=0.002).