2012 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 26-30
Chemotherapy is the standard therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma with distant metastases. We sometimes experience localized recurrence in the liver after curative resection of pancreatic carcinoma; therefore, there is hesitation regarding surgical resection. We analyzed 7 patients who underwent hepatic resection for liver metastases of pancreatic carcinoma at the National Cancer Center Hospital East. Of these, 3 patients underwent synchronous hepatic resection, while the others underwent metachronous hepatic resection. Liver metastases were solitary in 6 patients and showed 2 metastatic lesions in 1 patient. Median recurrence-free survival after synchronous and metachronous hepatic resection was 1.1 and 9.4 months, respectively. Overall survival after synchronous and metachronous hepatic resection was 7.5 and 20.7 months, respectively. Synchronous hepatic resection should not be performed in pancreatic cancer patients with liver metastases. However, whether metachronous hepatic resection should be performed in such patients is unclear. Currently, chemotherapeutic treatment for patients with liver metastases has become difficult to continue because side effects. Moreover, hesitation regarding surgical resection is high. It is therefore important to collect more data on such cases in order to better address these issues.
