[Colorectal carcinoma metastasis in livers infected with hepatitis B or C virus].

AIM

Metastases from colorectal cancers rarely occur in injured livers, however in western countries this phenomenon has not been investigated in patients with various forms of chronic hepatitis. Therefore in this study we evaluated the incidence of synchronous hepatic metastases of colorectal carcinomas in patients with hepatitis B (HBV) or C (HBC) infection.

METHODS

Six hundred and thirty patients undergoing surgical treatment for colorectal carcinomas were analysed: the clinicopathological data of 87 patients with HBV or HCV infection (there were 29 patients with hepatitis C infection and 58 with hepatitis B infection) were compared to those of 543 non infected patients.

RESULTS

Patients distribution was similar in both groups in terms of gender, age, type of operative procedures performed, histological grading and lymph node metastases. Stage I, II or III tumours were similarly represented in non infected and infected patients, while stage IV tumours were 33.1% in the non infection group and 17.2% in the infection group (P < 0.001). At the time of surgery, synchronous extrahepatic metastases were present in 14.9% of non infected patients and 15% of infected patients, while synchronous hepatic metastases were found in 32% and 17.2% of patients respectively (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Results of our study show that synchronous hepatic metastases of colorectal cancers are less frequently observed in chronic HBV or HCV infected patients than in non infected patients, while the incidence of extrahepatic metastases is comparable in both groups, suggesting that virus-related mechanisms and specific liver mediated immunity may have a protective role against neoplastic cell colonization of the liver.