The prognostic significance of resection of primary tumor in gastric and colorectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastasis.

The significance of primary tumor resection in gastric and colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis (H(+)) was evaluated in terms of operative mortality and survival rate by dividing the materials [293 gastric cancer and 80 colorectal cancer patients (53 colon and 27 rectum) with synchronous liver metastasis] into the following groups: Firstly, with or without peritoneal dissemination (P), secondly, with or without resection of the primary tumor and thirdly, with or without postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The following results were obtained: (1) The direct operative death rate of primary tumor resection, excluding death from other causes, showed an absence of statistically significant differences between the P0H(+) and P(+)H(+) gastric and colorectal cancer patients. (2) There was no significance in the prognosis between the primary tumor resection + postoperative chemotherapy group and the non-resectable group in the P(+)H(+) gastric and colorectal cancer patients, revealing no prognostic value of the primary tumor. (3) In the P0H(+) gastric and colorectal cancer patients, the primary tumor resection + postoperative chemotherapy group was significantly more favorable in prognosis than was the primary tumor resection alone group or the non-resectable group, showing the value of primary tumor resection.