Recent advances in the treatment of colorectal liver metastases

Liver metastases are the major cause of death coloroctal resection for cancer. Colorectal liver metastases are unique because of the potential for cure. Presently surgical resection is the gold standard of treatment. Complete R0 resection gives 5-year survival of up to 24-44%. Over the years there have been extensive efforts in devising new modalities of treatment for this disease. These include methods to increase the resectability such as portal after vein emolization & two-stage surgery, py with newer drugs and methods such chronotherapy & hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy, newer methods of radiotherapy, local ablative therapies such as cryoablation, radiofequency ablation, microwave ablation & laser interstitial thermal therapy, and biological therapy. Biological therapy is largely investigational, but holds great promise for the future.