Clinical outcomes of curative surgical resection of peritoneal metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer: A long-term follow-up study

Abstract

Introduction: Colorectal cancer with peritoneal metastasis (PM) has been considered a non-curative disease. PM is associated with reduced overall survival (OS) and worse prognosis compared with metastasis at other sites. We aimed to investigate the treatment outcome and recurrence after curative resection of colorectal PM during a long-term follow-up.

Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with colorectal PM and underwent surgery between December 2001 and December 2019 were included (n = 309). Curative resection was defined as PM resection without residual disease after surgery (complete macroscopic resection).

Results: Of 309 patients, 208 (67.8%) had PM as an initially metastatic disease. Curative (R0/1) resection was achieved in 155 (50.2%) patients, while non-curative operation (R2 resection or palliative operation including colostomy) was performed in 154 (49.8%) patients. Compared with patients who underwent non-curative operation, those with curative resection more often had a single PM on preoperative imaging (34.2% vs. 20.8%, p = 0.011) and postoperative results (59.4% vs. 22.7%, p < 0.001) and less often had concurrent metastasis (distant lymph node, liver, or lung) at the time of surgery (p < 0.001). During a median follow-up of 90.4 months, 80.6% (125/155) patients had recurrence in the curative resection group; the peritoneum was the most common site (56.0%). The median OS was 47.7 months (95% CI, 39.2-56.2) in the curative resection group and 24.8 months (95% CI, 20.8-28.9) in the non-curative resection group, respectively (p < 0.001). In particular, twenty-six patients without recurrence showed long-term survival after curative resection (median OS, 87.1 months; range, 40.1-127.5).

Conclusion: Surgical resection can be considered for selected patients with colorectal PM because a significant number of them could seize the cure changes during their treatment continuum.