Factors influencing survival in patients with hepatic metastases from adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum.

The median survival of all patients with hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer referred to the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute during a five-year period was 12.5 months. Two major factors influenced survival. The first was extent of disease at presentation. The second was the histologic grade of the cancer. The median survival of patients presenting with the least disease, characterized by less than four liver nodules visible on liver scan (n = 38), normal liver size on physical examination (n = 60), normal liver function test results (n = 30), and normal performance status (n = 91), was between 18 and 24 months, regardless of treatment. The median survival of those few patients (n = 13) who had objective responses to a variety of treatments, most of whom also had minimal disease at presentation, was also 24 months. Patients whose tumors were poorly differentiated or who had abnormal performance status or weight loss of greater than 10 per cent at presentation survived only six months (median). Those with four or more liver nodules, hepatomegaly (greater than 16-cm vertical span on physical examination), or abnormal liver function test results, survived ten, eight, and 12 months (median), respectively. It is concluded that a significant group of patients survived longer than would have been predicted by earlier literature surveys after the diagnosis of colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver. It is suggested that future therapeutic trials, using survival as a measure of response of patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer, must be prospectively controlled before selection factors can be differentiated from significant therapy effect.