[Liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma: computerized tomographic follow-ups and prognoses in relation to therapy]

Liver metastases of colorectal carcinomas were diagnosed by computed tomography in 116 patients. Several control examinations were made during the course of the disease. The therapeutic effect on the metastases is defined by measurements of the tissular density. Patients submitted to dearterialization or local chemotherapy showed a higher incidence of regressive tumor calcifications and necroses than untreated patients ans patients treated by systemic chemotherapy. The median survival of the untreated patients is 3.6 months, patients treated by systemic chemotherapy have a median survival of 7.9 months, and patients submitted to dearterialization and local chemotherapy show a median survival of 15.7 months. Patients treated by resection survived 36 months, which is about 10 months longer than the survival of patients treated by dearterialization, considering comparable metastatic stages. An increased survival after systemic chemotherapy was only observed in patients of stage 1.