Preliminary results of 'liver-first' reverse management for advanced and aggressive synchronous colorectal liver metastases: a propensity-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although a 'liver-first' approach recently has been advocated in treating synchronous colorectal metastases, little is known about how results compare with those of the classical approach among patients with similar grades of liver metastases.
METHODS: Propensity-score matching was used to select study subjects. Oncologic outcomes were compared between 10 consecutive patients with unresectable advanced and aggressive synchronous colorectal liver metastases treated with the reverse strategy and 30 comparable classically treated patients.
RESULTS: Numbers of recurrence sites and recurrent tumors irrespective of recurrence sites were greater in the reverse group then the classic group (p = 0.003 and p = 0.015, respectively). Rates of freedom from recurrence in the remaining liver and of freedom from disease also were poorer in the reverse group than in the classical group (p = 0.009 and p = 0.043, respectively). Among patients treated with 2-stage hepatectomy, frequency of microvascular invasion surrounding macroscopic metastases at second resection was higher in the reverse group than in the classical group (p = 0.011).
CONCLUSIONS: Reverse approaches may be feasible in treating synchronous liver metastases, but that strategy should be limited to patients with less liver tumor burden.