Preoperative CT during angiography of the liver for colorectal liver metastases

Background/Aims: We had previously reported that using CT during angiography as a preoperative evaluation improves the detecting rate of minute (less than 10mm) metastases and non-recurrent rate in the liver. We here evaluate the impact of CT during angiography on the survival after putative curative liver resection in our series. Methodology: During the period between 1990 and 2000, single detector helical CT was used for preoperative examination. There were 85 patients who underwent the examination before hepatectomy for colorectal metastases. Among them, there were 37 patients who underwent preoperative evaluating CT during angiography, and 48 who did not. The survival curves of the patient with/without CT during angiography, after the first hepatectomy, were calculated. Results: Although recurrences in the residual liver after hepatectomy were observed in 9 out of 37 patients with CT-during angiography and 19 out of 48 patients without, the actual 5-year survival rates of the patients with and without CT during angiography are 42.6 and 43.2%, respectively, after more than 5 years' follow-up period. There is no significant difference between them. Conclusions: The present data show that the benefits from the approach to improve the detection of minute liver metastases are limited for the survival of putative curative liver resection.