부산대학교 도서관

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:: Actual long-term survival of patients with colorectal liver metastases staged by PET CT has not been reported. Objectives were to investigate whether PET CT staging results in actual improved long-term survival, to examine outcome in patients with ‘equivocal’ PET CT scans, and those excluded from hepatectomy by PET CT. METHODS:: A retrospective analysis of patients undergoing hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastases between March 1998 and September 2008. RESULTS:: Overall 5- and 10-year survival was 44.8% and 23.9%. PET CT staging resulted in management changes in 23% of patients. PET CT staged patients showed significantly better survival than those staged by CT alone at 3 years (79.8% vs. 54.1%) and at 5 years (54.1% vs. 37.3%) with median survivals of 6.4 years versus 3.9 years (log rank P = 0.018). Patients with equivocal PET CT scans showed worse median survival than those with favourable PET CT (log rank P = 0.002), but may include a subpopulation whose prognosis trends towards a more favourable outcome than those excluded from liver resection by PET CT, whose median survival remains limited to 21 months. CONCLUSIONS:: Staging of patients with colorectal liver metastases by PET CT is associated with significantly improved actual long-term survival, and provides valuable prognostic information which guides surgical and oncological treatments. J. Surg. Oncol. 2014 110:313–319. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.