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Management of the Patient with Rectal Cancer Presenting with Synchronous Liver Metastases

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Difficult Decisions in Colorectal Surgery

Abstract

Up to 25% of patients newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer present with synchronous metastatic disease. Patients who present with a, asymptomatic rectal primary and synchronous liver metastastases represent a particular complex subset of patients whose management is nuanced, but potentially curable. Appropriate management involves careful and accurate staging, and a multidisciplinary approach including the colorectal surgeon, medical oncologist and hepatobiliary surgeon. There are many factors which influence the optimal medical and surgical approaches in such cases including timing of neoadjuvant treatment as well as how to manage the surgical approach to tumor sites, whether that is synchronous or staged operations. In this chapter we aim to help provide some helpful guidance in making these decisions based on the most current data available.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. M. Kenneth Lee, MD for his assistance and input into the creation of our surgical strategy pathway.

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Correspondence to Joshua I. S. Bleier .

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Sharon, C.E., Bleier, J.I.S. (2023). Management of the Patient with Rectal Cancer Presenting with Synchronous Liver Metastases. In: Umanskiy, K., Hyman, N. (eds) Difficult Decisions in Colorectal Surgery. Difficult Decisions in Surgery: An Evidence-Based Approach. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42303-1_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42303-1_25

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