Survival after resection of colorectal cancer with synchronous metastases – a Danish population based historical cohort study

Background

Conflicting data exist on the optimal treatment for resectable synchronous metastatic disease in liver and/or lungs in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). We examined the long term survival of a large national cohort of patients resected for CRC and timing of treatment for synchronous metastasectomies.

Methods

From 2000-2013 we included all patients from the Danish Cancer Registry and the Danish National Patient Registry recorded with CRC surgery for adenocarcinoma We also obtained data from the Danish National Patient Registry for patients operated for liver and/or lung metastases synchronously (

Results

A total of 35.993 patients had surgery for colon (n = 24.206) or rectal cancer (n = 11.787) (46,4% females (n = 16.711) and 53,6% males (n = 19.282)). 2.625 patients (7,3%) were surgically treated for metastatic disease with liver and/or lung surgery. 117 patients (0,3%) had liver surgery prior to CRC surgery while 1.458 patients (4,1%) underwent liver surgery following resection of the primary tumour. 106 patients (0,3%) were operated for lung metastases before and 944 patients (2,6%) after the CRC surgery. The 1 and 5 year overall survival for the entire cohort of patients were 84,1% (83,8%-84,5%) and 56,7% (56,1%-57,2%) respectively. For the subset of patients undergoing synchronous metastasectomy the 1 and 5 year survival were 88,0% (85,3%-90,2%) and 41,4% (36,9%-45,9%).

Conclusions

We found a 5 year survival of 41,4 % in patients treated for synchronous metastatic disease with liver and/or lung surgery

Clinical trial identification

Legal entity responsible for the study

Aarhus University Hospital

Funding

Aarhus University Hospital

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.