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Histopathological growth patterns of resected non-colorectal, non-neuroendocrine liver metastases: a retrospective multicenter study

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Abstract

Background

Distinct Histopathological Growth Patterns can be identified in liver metastases from melanoma, breast and colorectal cancers. For each of these distinct liver metastasis types the HGP has proven a biomarker for survival after partial hepatectomy, with the desmoplastic type marking favourable prognosis. Whether HGPs can be considered a pan-cancer phenomenon remains unknown. This study therefore evaluates the presence of HGPs and their prognostic value across non-colorectal non-neuroendocrine liver metastases.

Methods

A retrospective multicentre cohort study was performed in patients who underwent curative intent resection of non-colorectal non-neuroendocrine liver metastasis. HGPs were assessed on Haematoxylin and Eosin slides according to consensus guidelines and classified as desmoplastic or non-desmoplastic. Overall- and recurrence-free survival were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier and multivariable Cox regression analysis.

Results

In total, 132 patients with liver metastasis from 25 different tumour types were eligible for analysis, of which 26 (20%) had a desmoplastic HGP. Five-year OS and RFS (95%CI) were 53% (36–78%) versus 40% (30–53%), and 33% (19–61%) versus 15% (9–27%) for patients with desmoplastic compared to non-desmoplastic metastases, respectively (p = 0.031 & p = 0.004). On multivariable analysis (adjusted HR [95%CI]) a desmoplastic HGP was prognostic for both OS (0.46 [0.25–0.86]) and RFS (0.38 [0.21–0.69]).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that HGPs apply to liver metastases across a wide variety of primary tumour origins. They hold a prognostic value in these cases, suggesting that HGPs could represent a pan-cancer biomarker for survival after surgical resection of liver metastases.

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Data availability

Data will be available on reasonable request.

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Author notes

  1. Yannick Meyer and Ali Bohlok have equally contributed to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Oncology and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Yannick Meyer, Diederik Höppener, Boris Galjart, Dirk J. Grünhagen & Cornelis Verhoef

  2. Department of Surgical Oncology, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Ali Bohlok, Anaïs Labar & Vincent Donckier

  3. Department of Pathology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Michail Doukas

  4. Department of Abdominal Surgery, Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Valerio Lucidi

  5. Translational Cancer Research Unit (GZA Hospitals and University of Antwerp), Antwerp, Belgium

    Peter B. Vermeulen

Authors
  1. Yannick Meyer
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  2. Ali Bohlok
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Correspondence to Vincent Donckier.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Meyer, Y., Bohlok, A., Höppener, D. et al. Histopathological growth patterns of resected non-colorectal, non-neuroendocrine liver metastases: a retrospective multicenter study. Clin Exp Metastasis 39, 433–442 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-022-10153-y

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