Survival benefit and complications of primary tumor resection (PTR) in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) in the era of modern chemotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

3580 Background: Although there is evidences that PTR in advanced CRC may improve outcome, most studies were conducted during the period of monotherapy with 5-fluorouracil. Limited data is available regarding potential benefits and risk of PTR in patients with stage IV CRC treated with modern chemotherapy (MC). A recent phase II study suggested that outcomes are not compromised by leaving the primary colon tumor intact in such patients (JCO.2012;30:3223). Purpose:To compare survival of patients with advanced CRC who underwent PTR with patients without resection in the era of MC. The review also aims to determine post-operative mortality and non-fatal complications rates, primary tumor complications rate (PTCR), non-resection surgical procedures rate (NSPR) and quality of life (QOL). Methods: A literature search was conducted by using CENTRAL (2012), Medline (1946-2012), and EMBASE (1947-2012). Studies involving patients with stage IV CRC who underwent PTR were selected with restriction to publication dates from 2000, English language and human studies. Screening, evaluation of relevant articles and data abstraction was done in duplication and agreement was assessed. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were assessed for quality by using Ottawa-Newcastle score. Data was collected and synthesized as per protocol. Results: Of total of 3,379 reports, 10 retrospective studies were selected with patients population of 2,655. Among 2,655 patients, 1616 (61%) underwent PTR with a median overall survival of 18.7 months (range: 11-30.7) compared with 12.9 months (range: 5.8-22) in the control. The HR for survival was in 0.68 (95% CI: 0.56-0.83) favoring the PTR. Mean 30 days post-operative mortality rate in the PTR group was 3.9% (95% CI: 0-11). Mean PTCR and NSPR in the control group were 27.4% (95% CI: 16.4-38.5) and 27% (95% CI: 12.5-41.6) respectively. No study provided QOL. Conclusions: The retrospective data favors PTR in advanced CRC in the era of modern chemotherapy. Future prospective randomized trials are warranted to confirm the findings.