Shinji Osada, Satoshi Matsui, Yoshiyuki Sasaki, Hisashi Imai, Yoshihiro Tanaka, Nobuhisa Matsuhashi, Naoki Okumura, Kazuhiro Yoshida
Colorectal cancer is the third most common epithelial malignancy worldwide. At some point in the natural course of patients with this disease, up to 50% will develop metastasis to the liver, i.e., colorectal liver metastasis (CLM), which represents one of the most common threats to life. A variety of therapeutic approaches to treat this problematic disease have been attempted that have now resulted in the acceptance of an aggressive strategy even for advanced cases. However, the surgical indications for resection of synchronous metastases and the optimal timing of hepatectomy are still controversial and widely debated. In the present review, chemotherapeutic strategies involving recently developed regimes and/or hepatectomy are proposed based not only on the clinical data but also on biological concepts in which chemotherapy causes hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-related epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Epithelial malignancy; Hepatectomy
