[A new two-part therapy for multiple bilobar liver metastases of colorectal cancer--treatment of one lobe with partial hepatectomy and the other with arterial chemotherapy].

We studied a new two-part therapy for patients of multiple (more than five) bilobar liver metastases from colorectal cancer, in which one lobe is treated with partial hepatectomy and the other with arterial chemotherapy. The patient was a 72-year-old woman who had undergone sigmoidectomy and partial hepatectomy on March 9, 1995, for advanced sigmoid cancer with liver metastasis. In December 1995, new foci were detected in the remaining liver. Intraoperative echography during reoperation revealed 6 foci in the right lobe, 2 in the left lobe and 1 in the caudate lobe. During reoperation, we performed partial hepatectomy at the left lobe metastases and microwave coagulation in the caudate lobe. A catheter was inserted into the right hepatic artery, and the right hepatic artery was ligated with the catheter. From 2 weeks after operation, CDDP (20 mg) and 5-FU (1,500 mg) were given weekly by infusion from the arterial root. As a result, the serum CEA level fell to 3.6 ng/ml on June 26, 1996, and 1.9 mg/ml on August 14, 1996. A right lobectomy would have been performed if no metastasis appeared in the remainder of the left lobe over a one-year period. However, no foci were detected on a CT scan on March 26, 1997. This new two-part therapy warrants detailed investigation for bilobar bilateral liver metastases of colorectal cancer.