Surgical resection of synchronous liver metastases in gastric cancer patients. A propensity score-matched study.

Abstract

Purposes: The aim of our study was to determine the value of synchronous liver resection in patients with oligometastatic gastric cancer and the prognostic factors in these patients.

Methods: We compared the results of 21 gastric patients with liver metastases and synchronous liver resection (LMR) to 21 propensity score-matched patients with gastric cancer and liver metastases in whom liver resection was not performed (LM0) and to a propensity score-matched control group of 21 patients without liver metastases and stage III and IV resectable gastric cancer (CG).

Results: The overall 5-year survival of LM0, LMR and CG were 0%, 14.3%, and 19%, respectively (p = 0.002). Five-year survival was 47.5 % for well-differentiated tumour compared to 0% in patients with moderate or poor tumour differentiation (p = 0.006). In addition, patients with R0 resection and TNM stage N0-1 had a significantly better survival compared to patients with TNM N stage N2-3 (5YS: 60 % for N0-1 vs. 7.7 % for N2-3; p = 0.007).

Conclusion: The results presented in the study support synchronous liver resections in gastric patients and provide additional criteria for patient selection.