Survival Benefit of Surgical Treatment for Liver Metastases from Gastric Cancer

Indications for the resection of liver metastases from gastric cancers (GLM) remain controversial, and few previous studies have reported subsequent surgical outcomes. Thus, the present retrospective study was designed to clarify the benefits of surgical treatment and identify prognostic factors. Outcomes of 47 patients with or without hepatectomy for GLM were retrospectively compared. A total of 22 patients received surgical treatment for GLM, and overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 86, 26, and 26 %, respectively, and the median survival time (MST) was 22 months. Among 25 patients who did not receive hepatic surgical treatment, the overall survival rates were 24, 8.0, and 4.0 % at 1-, 3-, and 5-years, respectively, with an MST of 7 months. A significant difference was observed between patients with and without the liver surgical treatment (P < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses of recipients of surgery, only the number of liver metastases (solitary or multiple) was significantly predictive of survival (HR = 0.26, P = 0.029) following hepatic resection for GLM. Surgical treatment of GLM should be considered when complete excision including the primary tumor appears to be possible, particularly in cases of solitary hepatic metastases.