Background: Whether patients with resectable colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) receive survival benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy remains controversial.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 466 patients with resectable CRLM between 2000 and 2010. Patient characteristics and survival data were recorded.
Results: The patients were divided into one group with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (group NC, n = 121) and another without (group WN, n = 345). There was no difference in 5-year survival (52% vs. 48%) between the two groups. No significant differences were identified between the two groups in terms of 30-day mortality (1.7% vs. 1.2%) or morbidity (33.9% vs. 25.8%). A primary tumor at stage T4, ≥4 liver metastases, the largest liver metastasis ≥5 cm in diameter, and a serum CEA level ≥5 ng/ml were independent prognostic factors. By assigning one point to each, the patients were divided into a low-risk group (0-2) and a high-risk (3-4). The patients in the low-risk group received no survival benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy, whereas those in the high-risk group received survival benefit (5-year survival, 39% vs. 33%, P = 0.028).
Conclusions: Preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not increase mortality or complications. Not all resectable patients, only those with >2 independent risk factors, received survival benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy.