Recurrence of colorectal cancer after hepatic resection.

Survival estimates of 95, 65, and 49 percent at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively, after hepatic resection in 77 patients when all gross metastatic cancer was removed compare favorably with the series of Wagner et al [20] of untreated, apparently comparable patients. In the present series, recurrent disease was evident after hepatic resection, most commonly in the lungs; the liver; and locally, in that order. About half of the 45 patients with a second recurrence were operated on, and the recurrence was completely removed in roughly half of these patients. A median survival estimate of 31 months (range 1 to 67 months) after complete removal of the second recurrence was better than the survival estimate of 14 months (range 1 to 18 months) for those in whom the recurrence could not be removed (p less than 0.01). An elevated carcinoembryonic antigen level as the only indicator of recurrence after hepatic resection has proved to be an ominous prognostic sign.