The repeated hepatectomy for frequent recurrence of hepatic metastasis from gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the stomach.

Although in recent years hepatic resection has become a safe procedure, there are few data on repeat liver resection for hepatic metastases from gastrointestinal stromal tumor. A 60-year-old Japanese man underwent partial gastrectomy and extended right hepatectomy for gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the stomach with liver metastasis. However, liver metastasis recurred at the interval of less than 1 year. Therefore, the patient underwent a total of six liver resections. The liver resections comprised four R0, one R1 and one R2 resection. To our knowledge, six times for liver resection performed on one patient is a maximum. This patient survived 43 months after the first surgery. Despite frequent recurrence of hepatic metastasis from gastrointestinal stromal tumor, repeated hepatectomy provides a survival benefit if complete removal of all tumorous masses appears possible.