Hepatic histopathology and postoperative outcome after preoperative chemotherapy for Chinese patients with colorectal liver metastases

AIM: To assess the effects of preoperative treatment on the hepatic histology of non-tumoral liver and the postoperative outcome.METHODS: One hundred and six patients underwent hepatic resection for colorectal metastases between 1999 and 2009. The surgical specimens were reviewed with established criteria for diagnosis and grading of pathological hepatic injury. The impact of preoperative therapy on liver injury and postoperative outcome was analyzed.RESULTS: Fifty-three patients (50%) received surgery alone, whereas 42 patients (39.6%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and 11 (10.4%) patients received preoperative hepatic artery infusion (HAI). Chemotherapy included oxaliplatin-based regimens (31.1%) and irinotecan-based regimens (8.5%). On histopathological analysis, 16 patients (15.1%) had steatosis, 31 (29.2%) had sinusoidal dilation and 20 patients (18.9%) had steatohepatitis. Preoperative oxaliplatin was associated with sinusoidal dilation compared with surgery alone (42.4% vs 20.8%, P = 0.03); however, the perioperative complication rate was not significantly different between the oxaliplatin group and surgery group (27.3% vs 13.2%, P = 0.1). HAI was associated with more steatosis, sinusoidal dilation and steatohepatitis than the surgery group, with higher perioperative morbidity (36.4% vs 13.2%, P = 0.06) and mortality (9.1% vs 0% P = 0.02).CONCLUSION: Preoperative oxaliplatin was associated with sinusoidal dilation compared with surgery alone. However, the preoperative oxaliplatin had no significant impact on perioperative outcomes. HAI can cause pathological changes and tends to increase perioperative morbidity and mortality.