Neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus upfront surgery for resectable colorectal liver metastases: A systemic review and meta-analysis

Aim

To compare the differences between neoadjuvant chemotherapy with resection and upfront surgery for patients with resectable colorectal cancer with liver metastases.

Patients and Methods

The following electronic databases were searched for systematic literature: PubMed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Studies fulfilling the following criteria were included in the analysis: compared neoadjuvant chemotherapy and upfront surgery; included patients with resectable metastases at the time of presentation; reported the long-term results, including overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS); and identified early adverse postoperative events, including 30-day mortality and overall postoperative complications.

Results

Over 24 studies with 8700 patients were analysed. Patients were divided into the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group (n = 3490, 40.1%) and the upfront surgery group (n = 5172, 59.4%). The meta-analysis showed no statistically significant difference in terms of overall morbidities [odds ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84-1.67] and mortality (OR 1.48, 95% CI 0.75-2.92) between the neoadjuvant chemotherapy and upfront surgery groups. However, the meta-analysis showed a favourable OS in the upfront surgery group (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.06-1.38) and favourable DFS in the upfront surgery group (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.38-2.12), including the subgroups of 1-, 3-, 5-year DFS (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.06-1.8; OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.35-3.14 and OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.18-2.29, respectively).

Conclusion

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has no benefit for resectable colorectal cancer with liver metastases; therefore, upfront surgery should be considered as the treatment of choice.