[Colorectal liver metastases surgery - the present and the perspectives]

The incidence of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) in the fourth stage of colorectal carcinoma is 80%, liver parenchyma only being impaired in 40% of patients. Liver resection is the "gold standard" of treatment with long-term overall survival. However, only 20-25% of CLM are primarily resectable. Many staged procedures exist for increasing secondary CLM resectability - modern oncologic therapy, portal vein embolization, stem cells application, ALPPS (associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy), sequential liver procedures, combined resections with thermoablation procedures. Perioperative oncological therapy in primary resectable CLM is currently recommended. The patients prognosis depends on the biological CLM activity, which is evaluated according to several serum or histopathological markers. Resectable extrahepatic metastases are no more a contraindication for liver resection. One-stage resection of primary tumour and CLM is recommended in cases where one procedure is simple and short. Liver first procedure can be used in patients with the risk of non-resectability of advanced CLM after the treatment of primary colorectal cancer. Up to 55-60% of patients will develop recurrent CLM which are resectable in many cases, or thermoablation methods can be used.