[Treatment of hepatic metastases by surgical excision]

Surgical resection of hepatic metastases is mainly performed for colo-rectal carcinomas. The natural history of these metastases shows that their course is variable but death of the patients occurs within one year after discovery of obvious hepatic metastases in 50% of these patients. Five years survival after complete surgical hepatic resection is reported to be around 20% in most series. Prognosis is determined by the node involvement of the primary tumour, the degree of local invasion (Dukes classification) and the time of appearance of the liver-metastases (metachronous or synchronous). A better pre- and intra-operative (ultrasound) detection could improve these results.