Surgical Treatment following Chemo-Targeted Therapy with Bevacizumab for Lung Metastasis from Colorectal Carcinoma: Analysis of Safety and Histological Therapeutic Effects in Patients Treated at a Single Institution

Background Recently, therapeutic strategies for a metastasectomy from colorectal carcinoma after chemo-targeted therapy with bevacizumab have been presented, with which some uncommon but serious adverse events have been reported. However, only few reports have investigated the safety of lung resection after such therapy or the histological effects. We retrospectively analyzed the both of them at our institute. Methods Of 69 colorectal carcinoma patients who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy procedures from 2009 to 2014, we investigated 11 who also received chemo-targeted therapy prior to surgery. Results In addition to bevacizumab, 5 fluorouracil (FU)/leucovorin + oxaliplatin or capecitabine was given in 6 cases and 5 FU/leucovorin + irinotecan in 5 cases. The mean period from the end of chemo-targeted therapy to surgery was 2.7 ± 0.9 months. The response to therapy shown in imaging findings was progressive disease in 6, stable disease in 3, and partial response in 2 (response rate, 18.2%). The operation modes were wedge resection (n = 8, 72.3%), segmentectomy (n = 2, 1 in bilateral lobes, 1 in the right lobe, 18.2%), and lobectomy (n = 1, left lower lobectomy, 9.1%). All patients safely underwent a complete resection. As for postsurgical complications, chylothorax occurred in 1 case and prolonged pulmonary air leakage in 1 case. The histological effects of chemo-targeted therapy were slight. There was no relationship between histological findings with imaging findings obtained prior to the operation (p = 0.63). The 5-year disease-free survival rate after metastasectomy was 10.9%. Conclusions Pulmonary metastasectomy after chemo-targeted therapy for colorectal carcinoma patients obtained acceptable results. In addition, there was no correlation between imaging and histopathologic results following chemo-targeted therapy.