William R. Jarnagin, MD

In a good percentage of patients who have oligometastatic disease confined to a single organ-usually the liver-complete metastasectomy can result in cure. However, once the decision to pursue surgery is made, there remain a number of issues that must be addressed in order to ensure the best possible outcome.

With approximately 150,000 new cases annually, colorectal carcinoma is a major cause of cancer-related morbidity in the United States. Nearly 50% of these patients will develop metastatic liver disease at sometime in the course of their illness, and approximately one-third of this group will have disease confined to the liver.