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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2015; 7(9): 148-152
Published online Sep 15, 2015. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i9.148
Intrahepatic therapy for liver-dominant metastatic colorectal cancer
Kerlijne De Groote, Hans Prenen
Kerlijne De Groote, Hans Prenen, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
Author contributions: De Groote K and Prenen H contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hans Prenen, MD, Professor of Medicine, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. hans.prenen@uzleuven.be
Telephone: +32-16-340238 Fax: +32-16-344419
Received: March 21, 2015
Peer-review started: March 22, 2015
First decision: July 1, 2015
Revised: July 6, 2015
Accepted: July 29, 2015
Article in press: August 3, 2015
Published online: September 15, 2015
Processing time: 179 Days and 18.2 Hours
Abstract

In patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the liver is the most common site of metastatic disease. In patients with liver-dominant disease, consideration needs to be given to locoregional treatments such as hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy, transarterial chemoembolisation and selective internal radiation therapy because hepatic metastases are a major cause of liver failure especially in chemorefractory disease. In this review we provide insights on the published literature for locoregional treatment of liver metastases in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Liver metastases; Intrahepatic treatment; Chemoembolization; Radioembolisation

Core tip: Thanks to the increased chemotherapeutic options in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), the overall survival has significantly improved the last decade. Liver failure is a common cause of death in mCRC with liver metastases. Therefore in these patients locoregional treatment is a valuable treatment option in order to increase survival. In this review we provide insights on the published literature.