Background/aims: There have been no reports comparing surgical results of hepatectomy for metastases between breast cancer origin and colorectal cancer origin. The aim of the present study was to compare the both and to clarify the survival benefit brought by hepatectomy for metastases from breast cancer.
Methodology: Between 1990 and 1999, 6 patients with hepatic metastases from breast cancer and 94 patients with those from colorectal cancer underwent hepatectomy with curative intent. All patients in the breast-cancer-origin group received adjuvant chemotherapy following hepatectomy, however, fewer patients (55% of the 94 patients) did in the colorectal-cancer-origin group (P = 0.034).
Results: Morbidity and mortality rates after hepatectomy in patients with hepatic metastases from breast cancer were 0% and 0%, respectively, and those in patients with metastases from colorectal cancer were 12% and 1%, respectively. Postoperative survival curves in the both groups were similar. Three- and five-year survival rates in the breast-cancer-origin group were 60% and 40%, respectively, and those in the colorectal-cancer-origin group were 54% and 42%, respectively.
Conclusions: When appropriate adjuvant chemotherapy is performed, hepatectomy for metastases from breast cancer offers the survival benefit similar to that in hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer.