Strategies for Synchronous and Multiple Metastatic Liver Tumors Designed from Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Concept

Shinji Osada, Hisashi Imai, Yoshiyuki Sasaki, Kazuhiro Yoshida

Surgical Oncology, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan.
Surgical Oncology, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan..

DOI: 10.4236/jct.2012.33029                

Abstract

At some point in the natural course of colorectal cancer up to 50% of patients will develop metastasis to the liver and it is one of the most critical effects for patient prognosis. The incidence of synchronous liver metastasis has been detected at around 20% - 25%, but the optimal timing of surgical resection remains controversial. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has also been found to be beneficial not only for initially unresectable but also resectable synchronous metastases. Then, traditional surgical strategies of hepatic resection in accordance with past chemotherapeutic regimens have been used decreasingly over the past several years. This review will primarily discuss treatments in association with the recent developed chemotherapeutic regimens and surgical procedure from the clinical data and the concept for epithetlial-mesenchymal transition, which has recently been studied to elucidate mechanisms of the liver metastatic process.

Keywords

Colorectal Cancer; Surgical Indication; Synchronous and Multiple Liver Metastasis; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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