Adjuvant oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy effect after treatment of colorectal hepatic metastasis

We aimed to investigate whether adjuvant oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy after treatment for hepatic metastasis affects recurrence or survival and to determine the risk factors for recurrence or survival.

Forty-six patients who underwent curative treatment for hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer between July 2009 and December 2017 were included from a retrospectively collected patient database. Curative resection included hepatic resection, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), or a combination of both, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy.

Thirty-seven patients (80.4%) had colon cancer and 9 (19.6%) had rectal cancer. Twenty-six patients (56.5%) underwent hepatic resection, 7 (15.2%) RFA, and 13 (28.3%) hepatic resection and RFA. Thirty-two patients (69.6%) underwent chemotherapy after hepatic treatment. The recurrence incidence was 50% in the non-chemotherapy group and 46.9% in the chemotherapy group (P > 0.999). The incidence of death was 7.1% in the non-chemotherapy group and 18.8% in the chemotherapy group (P = 0.657). The recurrence risk factors were N stage (N0 vs. N2; P = 0.013, P = 0.005) and bilobed hepatic metastasis (P = 0.027, P = 0.009) in the univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. However, chemotherapy after hepatic treatment was not a risk factor for disease-free survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS) in the univariate and multivariate analyses (P = 0.656 and P = 0.414, respectively; P = 0.510 and P = 0.459, respectively).

Oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy after colorectal hepatic metastasis treatment did not affect the DFS or OS. The N stage of the primary tumor and bilobed hepatic metastasis are risk factors for recurrence and death.