Surgical resection of hepatic metastasis from gastric cancer: a review and new recommendation in the Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines

Liver metastases from gastric cancer are rarely indicated for surgery because they are often diagnosed as multiple nodules occupying both lobes and coexist with extrahepatic disease. A literature search identified no clinical trials on hepatectomy for this disease; only retrospective studies of a relatively small number of cases collected over more than a decade, mostly from a single institution, were found. Five-year survival rates from these reports ranged from 0 % to 37 %, and long-term survivors were observed among carefully selected case series. The most commonly reported prognostic factor was the number of metastatic nodules, and patients with a solitary metastasis tended to have superior outcome. Patients diagnosed to have a small number of metastatic nodules by modern imaging tools could be indicated for surgery. Because both intrahepatic and extrahepatic recurrences are common, patients are likely to benefit from perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy, although it is not possible at this time to specify which regimen is the most appropriate.