Liver metastases occur in up to 80 -90% either synchronously with the diagnosis of the primary tumor or metachronous at a later time point. While resection of colorectal liver metastases or transplantation is now standard of care with a 5-year patient survival of up to 80%, resection of non-colorectal liver metastases remains controversial.
The rationale is its significantly lower survival benefit of all different tumor entities depending on the biological aggressiveness of the tumor in earlier studies. Randomized controlled trials are lacking. However, more data and larger series are being reported and some show a 5-year patient survival of up to 40% compared to only <5% in patients without treatment. Risk factors for poor survival such as the type of primary tumor, a short disease-free interval, extrahepatic involvement, liver disease burden, and the extent of liver resection.
It has recently been shown that with appropriate patient selection along with advances in surgical techniques, these may lead to a significantly better outcome and it is no longer an absolute contraindication. With the advent of modern systemic and targeted therapy, the optimal approach is decided individually by a multidisciplinary team.
Our Speaker
Dr. Lee Ser Yee
General Surgeon
Dr. Lee Ser Yee specializes in Hepatopancreatobiliary surgery (HPB), Liver transplantation, Minimally-Invasive Surgery (MIS). His area of expertise lies in minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopic and robotic surgery in the treatment of liver, gallbladder and pancreas diseases and cancers. Prior to private practice, he was a founding member and Senior Consultant at the Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) and Transplant Surgery at Singapore General Hospital (SGH). He served as the Director of the Laparoscopic program and the Director of the Surgical Skills Training Program and the SingHealth Surgical Skills Centre.
He also completed dual USA fellowships in Advanced Laparoscopic HPB surgery and Liver Transplantation at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center and a Complex Surgical Oncology clinical fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
He has authored more than 200 scientific publications including 2 surgical books and over 70 book chapters. He also sits on the Editorial and Reviewer Board for more than 30 international medical journals. He is a founding member and the current President of the Singapore HPB Association and serves in the various committees such as, the International HPB Association (IHPBA), Chapter of General Surgeons, and Council of Surgeons, Singapore.
