Factors affecting surgical margin recurrence after hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastases

In 2013, 142,000 new patients with colorectal cancer were diagnosed in the United States (1). Although, the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer have been declining over the recent years, about 10–25% of these patients present with synchronous liver metastasis; while another 20–50% will develop metachronous liver metastases during the course of their disease (2-6). Liver resection is the only potentially curative treatment in these patients, resulting in 5-year survival rates of 32% to 58% (2,3,6-11). However, hepatic recurrence occurs in 50% of patients during follow-up, with 2.8% to 13.9% presenting with surgical margin recurrence (SMR) (6,11-15). SMR is not reported consistently in the hepatectomy literature. Furthermore, there are very few studies focusing on the incidence and predictors of SMR (12,14,15)