Chemotherapy and Regional Therapy of Hepatic Colorectal Metastases: Expert Consensus Statement by Bartlett et al.

Excerpt

Several new agents for the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) have been developed over the past few years. Various combinations of these agents, with or without liver-directed therapies, have been shown to improve the outcomes of patients with metastatic colorectal liver metastases (CRCLM). In this edition of the journal, as part of an AHPBA-SSAT-SSO co-sponsored consensus panel meeting, Barlett et al. insightfully reviewed the current data pertaining to systemic and regional chemotherapy of CRCLM. The consensus panel report reviewed these therapies from three standpoints: systemic chemotherapy for unresectable patients, adjuvant therapy for resected CRCLM, and intra-arterial therapies for unresectable CRCLM. In addition, the authors discussed the challenge of optimizing any chemotherapeutic approach given the recent, almost simultaneous, regulatory approval of a number of novel biologic agents and the potential of some, if not all, of these to cause liver damage, which in turn may adversely affect a patient’s ability to survive a potentially curative liver resection.1,2 …