Abstract
Radiation therapy as a viable and major treatment option for liver metastases is a relatively recent development in clinical oncology. The limited role of radiation has largely been due to the availability of surgery and percutaneous thermal ablation therapies, as well as the relative radiosensitivity of the liver. Technological advances in treatment planning and radiation delivery have enabled the safe and effective application of hypofractionated radiation treatments to liver tumors, including patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases. In this chapter, I discuss current clinical practice regarding the management of colorectal cancer liver metastases as well as practical details of treatment planning.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Weiss L, et al. Hematogenous metastatic patterns in colonic carcinoma: an analysis of 1541 necropsies. J Pathol. 1986;150(3):195–203.
Pawlik TM, Choti MA. Surgical therapy for colorectal metastases to the liver. J Gastrointest Surg. 2007;11(8):1057–77.
Sugarbaker PH. Metastatic inefficiency: the scientific basis for resection of liver metastases from colorectal cancer. J Surg Oncol Suppl. 1993;3:158–60.
Fong Y, et al. Clinical score for predicting recurrence after hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer. Ann Surg. 1999;230(3):309–18.
House MG, et al. Survival after hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer: trends in outcomes for 1,600 patients during two decades at a single institution. J Am Coll Surg. 2010;210(5):744–52.
Hoch G, et al. Is intraoperative ultrasound still useful for the detection of colorectal cancer liver metastases? HPB (Oxford). 2015;17(6):514–9.
Grunhagen D, et al. The history of adoption of hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer: 1984–95. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2013;86(3):222–31.
Pawlik TM, et al. Expanding criteria for resectability of colorectal liver metastases. Oncologist. 2008;13(1):51–64.
Niemierko A, Goitein M, et al. Modeling of normal tissue response to radiation: the critical volume model. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1993;25(1):135–45.
Schefter TE, et al. A phase I trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for liver metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005;62(5):1371–8.
Vauthey JN, et al. Standardized measurement of the future liver remnant prior to extended liver resection: methodology and clinical associations. Surgery. 2000;127(5):512–9.
Jaeck D, et al. A two-stage hepatectomy procedure combined with portal vein embolization to achieve curative resection for initially unresectable multiple and bilobar colorectal liver metastases. Ann Surg. 2004;240(6):1037–49.
Malde DJ, et al. Inferior vena cava resection with hepatectomy: challenging but justified. HPB (Oxford). 2011;13(11):802–10.
Kelley ME, et al. Synchronous colorectal liver metastasis: a network meta-analysis review comparing classical, combined, and liver-first surgical strategies. J Surg Oncol. 2015;111(3):341–51.
Breedis C, Young G. The blood supply of neoplasms in the liver. Am J Pathol. 1954;30(5):227–32.
Brown KT, et al. Randomized trial of hepatic artery embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma using doxorubicin-eluting microspheres compared with embolization with microspheres alone. J Clin Oncol. 2016;34(17):2046–53.
Gulec SA. Y-90 radiomicrosphere therapy for colorectal cancer liver metastases. Semin Nucl Med. 2016;46(2):126–34.
Meyer J, Toomay S. Update on treatment of liver metastases: focus on ablation therapies. Curr Oncol Rep. 2015;17(1):420.
Oshowo A. Comparison of resection and radiofrequency ablation for treatment of solitary colorectal liver metastases. Br J Surg. 2003;90(10):1240–3.
Mulier S, et al. Radiofrequency ablation versus resection for resectable colorectal liver metastases: time for a randomized trial? Ann Surg Oncol. 2008;15(1):144–57.
Mulier S, et al. Local recurrence after hepatic radiofrequency coagulation: multivariate meta-analysis and review of contributing factors. Ann Surg. 2005;242(2):158–71.
Kim SK, Rhim H, Kim YS, et al. Radiofrequency thermal ablation of hepatic tumors: pitfall and challenges. Abdom Imaging. 2005;30(6):727–33.
Bhardwaj N, et al. A comparative histological evaluation of the ablations produced by microwave, cryotherapy, and radiofrequency in the liver. Pathology. 2009;41(2):168–72.
Reed GB Jr, Cox AJ Jr. The human liver after radiation injury. A form of veno-occlusive disease. Am J Pathol. 1966;48(4):597–611.
Pan CC, et al. Radiation-associated liver injury. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;76(3 Suppl):S94–100.
Dawson LA, et al. Escalated focal liver radiation and concurrent hepatic artery fluorodeoxyuridine for unresectable intrahepatic malignancies. J Clin Oncol. 2000;18(11):2210–8.
Blomgren H, et al. Stereotactic high dose fraction radiation therapy of extracranial tumors using an accelerator. Clinical experience of the first thirty-one patients. Acta Oncol. 1995;34(6):861–70.
Herfarth KK, et al. Stereotactic single-dose radiation therapy of liver tumors: results of a phase I/II trial. J Clin Oncol. 2001;19(1):164–70.
Goodman KA, et al. Dose-escalation study of single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy for liver malignancies. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;78(2):486–93.
Meyer JJ, et al. A phase I dose-escalation trial of single-fraction stereotactic radiation therapy for liver metastases. Ann Surg Oncol. 2016;23(1):218–24.
Rusthoven KE, et al. Multi-institutional phase I/II trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy for liver metastases. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27(10):1572–8.
Van der Pool AE, et al. Stereotactic body radiation therapy for colorectal liver metastases. Br J Surg. 2010;97(3):377–82.
Hoyer M, et al. Phase II study on stereotactic body radiotherapy of colorectal metastases. Acta Oncol. 2006;45(7):823–30.
Scorsetti M, et al. Final results of a phase II trial for stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients with inoperable liver metastases from colorectal cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2015;141(3):543–53.
Kamada T, et al. Carbon ion radiotherapy in Japan: an assessment of 20 years of clinical experience. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16(2):e93–100.
Pennington JD, et al. Dosimetric comparison of brachyablation and stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy in the treatment of liver metastasis. Brachytherapy. 2015;14(4):537–42.
Ahmedzadehfar H, et al. Radioembolization of liver tumors with yttrium-90 microspheres. Semin Nucl Med. 2010;40(2):105–21.
Riaz A, et al. Radiation segmentectomy: a novel approach to increase safety and efficacy of radioembolization. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011;79(1):163–71.
van Hazel GA. SIRFLOX: randomized phase III trial comparing first-line mFOLFOX6 (plus or minus bevacizumab) versus mFOLFOX6 (plus or minus bevacizumab) plus selective internal radiation therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2016;34(15):1723–31.
Bekaii-Saab T, Wu C. Seeing the forest through the trees: a systematic review of the safety and efficacy of combination chemotherapies used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2014;91(1):9–34.
Mahipal A, Grothey A. Role of biologics in first-line treatment of colorectal cancer. J Oncol Pract. 2016;12(12):1219–28.
Le DT, et al. PD-1 blockade in tumors with mismatch-repair deficiency. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(26):2509–20.
Kingham TP, et al. Role of intra-arterial hepatic chemotherapy in the treatment of colorectal cancer metastases. J Surg Oncol. 2010;102(8):988–95.
Reddy SK, et al. Timing of multimodality therapy for resectable synchronous colorectal liver metastases: a retrospective multi-institutional analysis. Ann Surg Oncol. 2009;16(7):1809–19.
Sabanathan D, et al. Use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus molecular targeted therapy in colorectal liver metastases: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Colorectal Cancer. 2016;15(4):e141–7.
Adam R, et al. Patients with initially unresectable colorectal liver metastase: is there a possibility of cure? J Clin Oncol. 2009;28(11):1829–35.
Rubbia-Brandt L, et al. Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome and nodular regenerative hyperplasia are frequent oxaliplatin-associated liver lesions and partially prevented by bevacizumab in patients with hepatic colorectal metastasis. Histopathology. 2010;56(4):430–9.
Unal E, et al. Liver function assessment by magnetic resonance imaging. Semin Ultrasound CT MR. 2016;37(6):549–60.
Pollom EL, et al. Gastrointestinal toxicities with combined antiangiogenic and stereotactic body radiation therapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2015;92(3):568–76.
Uppal A, et al. Towards a molecular basis of oligometastatic disease: potential role of micro-RNAs. Clin Exp Metastasis. 2014;31(6):735–48.
Lee Y, et al. Therapeutic effects of ablative radiation on local tumor require CD8+ T cells: changing strategies for cancer treatment. Blood. 2009;114(3):589–95.
Seung SK. Phase 1 study of stereotactic body radiotherapy and interleukin-2-tumor and immunological responses. Sci Transl Med. 2012;4(137):137.
Asvadi NH, et al. CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation of tumors in the hepatic dome: assessment of efficacy and safety. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2016;27(4):496–502.
Yoon SS, et al. Surgical placement of biologic mesh spacers to displace bowel away from unresectable liver tumors followed by delivery of dose-intense radiation therapy. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2014;4(3):167–73.
Wahl DR, et al. Outcomes after stereotactic body radiotherapy or radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 2016;34(5):452–9.
Sintzing S, et al. Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or robotic radiosurgery (RRS) for salvage treatment of colorectal liver metastases. Acta Oncol. 2013;52(5):971–9.
Elias D, et al. New perspectives in the treatment of colorectal metastases. Liver Cancer. 2016;6(1):90–8.
Benedict SH, et al. Stereotactic body radiation therapy: the report of AAPM Task Group 101. Med Phys. 2010;37(8):4078–101.
Mageras GS, Yorke E. Deep inspiration breath hold and respiratory gating strategies for reducing organ motion in radiation treatment. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2004;14:65–75.
Wong JW, et al. The use of active breathing control (ABC) to reduce margin for breathing motion. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1999;44:911–9.
Heinzerling JH, et al. Four-dimension computed tomography scan analysis of tumor and organ motion at varying levels of abdominal compression during stereotactic treatment of lung and liver. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008;70(5):1571–8.
Ozhasoglu C, et al. Synchrony—cyberknife respiratory compensation technology. Med Dosim. 2008;33(2):117–23.
Murray B, et al. Frame-based immobilization and targeting for stereotactic body radiation therapy. Med Dosim. 2007;32(2):86–91.
Zhong R, et al. Hypofractionation radiotherapy of liver tumor using cone beam computed tomography guidance combined with active breath control by long breath-holding. Radiother Oncol. 2012;104(3):379–85.
Dawson LA, et al. The reproducibility of organ position using active breathing control (ABC) during liver radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2001;51(5):1410–21.
Eccles C, et al. Reproducibility of liver position using the active breathing coordinator for liver cancer radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2006;64(3):751–9.
Foster R, et al. Localization accuracy and immobilization effectiveness of a stereotactic body frame for a variety of treatment sites. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2013;87(5):911–6.
Tirumani SH, Kim KW, et al. Update on the role of imaging in management of metastatic colorectal cancer. Radiographics. 2014;34(7):1908–28.
Shaffer JL, et al. Stereotactic body radiation therapy and central liver toxicity: a case report. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2015;5(5):282–5.
Timmerman R, et al. Excessive toxicity when treating central lung tumors in a phase II study of stereotactic body radiation therapy for medically inoperable early-stage lung cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24(30):4833–9.
Eriguchi T, et al. Acceptable toxicity after stereotactic body radiation therapy for liver tumors adjacent to the central biliary system. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2013;85(4):1006–11.
Lasley FD, et al. Treatment variables related to liver toxicity in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, child-pugh class a and b enrolled in a phase 1-2 trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2015;5(5):e. 443–9.
Kopek N, et al. Stereotactic body radiotherapy for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma. Radiother Oncol. 2010;94(1):47–52.
Murphy JD, et al. A dosimetric model of duodenal toxicity after stereotactic body radiotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;8(5):1420–6.
Rule W, et al. Phase I dose-escalation study of stereotactic body radiotherapy in patients with hepatic metastases. Ann Surg Oncol. 2011;18(4):1081–7.
Chang DT, et al. Stereotactic body radiotherapy for colorectal liver metastases: a pooled analysis. Cancer. 2011;117(17):4060–9.
Tao R, et al. Ablative radiotherapy doses lead to a substantial prolongation of survival in patients with inoperable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a retrospective dose response analysis. J Clin Oncol. 2016;34(3):219–26.
Papiez L, et al. Extracranial stereotactic radioablation: physical principles. Acta Oncol. 2003;42(8):882–94.
Marks LB, et al. Conformal radiation therapy with fixed shaped coplanar or noncoplanar radiation beam bouquets: a possible alternative to radiosurgery. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1995;33(5):1209–19.
Cardinale RM, et al. Determining the optimal block margin on the planning target volume for extracranial stereotactic radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1999;45(2):515–20.
Court L, et al. Evaluation of the interplay effect when using RapidArc to treat targets moving in the craniocaudal or right-left direction. Med Phys. 2010;37(1):4–11.
Selvaraj J, et al. 4D radiobiological modelling of the interplay effect in conventionally and hypofractionated lung tumour IMRT. Br J Radiol. 2015;88(1045).
Craft D, et al. The price of target dose uniformity. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2016;96(4):913–4.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meyer, J. (2018). Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases. In: Russo, S., Hoffe, S., Kim, E. (eds) Gastrointestinal Malignancies. Practical Guides in Radiation Oncology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64900-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64900-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64899-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64900-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)