[Recent advances in the case management of colorectal cancer liver metastases]

For a long time, patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer were considered to be incurable. Over the last 30 years, the benefits of surgical resection and systemic chemotherapy have been established. To date, surgical resection remains the only treatment that can ensure long-term survival and cure in some patient. However, only a minority of patients with liver metastases are amenable to surgery and after resection of liver metastases, recurrences are still observed in two third of patients. Therefore, efforts have been made to increase the number of patients that could be candidates for surgery and to decrease the risk of recurrence after surgical resection. Shrinkage of tumours after administration of pre-operative chemotherapy and the availability of new surgical technique, including portal vein embolization, cryotherapy and radiofrequency ablation, now allows the treatment, with curative intent, of metastases initially considered as non-resectable. Chemotherapy regimens have been developed to decrease the risk of postoperative recurrence.