This week's artwork was donated by Lonny, a pediatric cancer patient who received treatment at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia .
Liver resection is standard therapy for selected patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
Extrahepatic metastases and inability to remove all hepatic disease usually preclude curative resection and are the most common contraindications. This study analyzes irresectability in patients considered to have resectable disease taken to operation for potentially curative hepatic resection. We describe preoperative factors associated with irresectability and propose a preoperative scoring system that identifies patients at particularly high risk for occult irresectable disease. Patients considered to have resectable hepatic colorectal metastases were identified from a prospective database. Intraoperative findings that precluded liver resection were recorded.