[Hepatic resections for primary and secondary malignant pathology of the liver: our experience]

The aim of this work is to describe the three years experience in hepatic resections for primitive and metastatic liver tumors. Of the 90 patients considered initially only 33% was admitted to radical surgical treatment, after a complete clinical and instrumental evaluation. Twenty of them was affected by liver metastases, most of which from colo-rectal cancer; ten had hepatocellular carcinoma developed on hepatic cirrhosis. All the patients affected by HCC underwent pre-operative chemoembolisation (TACE). Regional chemotherapy (TACI) was performed in synchronous metastatic tumors before surgical treatment. Surgical resection in HCC was extremely limited, removing at most 35% of total liver volume. For metastatic tumors 12 major resections and 8 minor resections was carried out. Postoperative complications occurred in 13.3%, including one death for digestive bleeding. A relationship between intraoperative risk factors, such as blood loss and transfusions was registered. The actuarial surviving rate was 47.5% for HCC and 48.3% for colo-rectal metastases at three years. Finally, preoperative CEA levels was the only factor significantly related to long term prognosis of patients affected by liver colo-rectal metastases.