Neoadjuvant treatment before resection of liver metastases

Surgical resection remains the only treatment of colorectal liver metastases that can ensure long-term survival and cure in some patient. However, only a minority of patients with liver metastases are amenable to surgery. Other patients can benefit from modern chemotherapy regimens, which achieve high response rates but are rarely sufficient for cure. In patients with unresectable metastases, neoadjuvant chemotherapy may increase the number of candidates for potentially curative resection, hence affording these patients the possibility of prolonged survival. For patients with resectable metastases, it is likely that the benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery will be demonstrated in the near future but is not yet validated. The integration of novel targeted agents will probably transform the therapeutic strategy for colorectal liver metastases. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.