Surgical Management of Liver Metastases in Breast Cancer

Liver metastases represent a significant complication in advanced breast cancer, arising in up to half of patients with disseminated disease. While systemic therapies remain the cornerstone of treatment, surgical interventions have assumed an increasingly important role in carefully selected cases. Partial hepatectomy offers the potential for long‐term disease control when metastatic deposits are limited in number and confined to the liver. Advances in perioperative care and refinements in surgical technique, such as inflow occlusion and parenchymal‐sparing approaches, have reduced morbidity and expanded patient eligibility. Minimally invasive local ablation methods—chiefly radiofrequency ablation and its stereotactic variant—provide an alternative for those unfit for resection or with lesions in anatomically challenging locations. Multidisciplinary evaluation is imperative to integrate surgery within a continuum of systemic and locoregional modalities. Emerging data suggest that patients with a prolonged interval between primary diagnosis and hepatic spread, solitary or few metastases, hormone‐receptor positivity and absence of extrahepatic disease derive the greatest survival benefit. As real-world experience accrues, surgical management of breast cancer liver metastases is poised to complement systemic therapies by improving progression‐free intervals and overall survival in selected patient cohorts.

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Surgical Management of Liver Metastases in Breast Cancer publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in surgical management of liver metastases in breast cancer across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Hepatic resection: Surgical removal of liver tissue containing metastatic tumours.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA): Percutaneous insertion of electrodes to generate heat and destroy tumour cells.

Stereotactic radiofrequency ablation (SRFA): Image‐guided, computer‐assisted placement of multiple probes for precise thermal ablation of liver lesions.

Extrahepatic disease: Presence of metastatic spread outside the liver.

References

1. Hepatectomy, RFA, and Other Liver Directed Therapies for Treatment of Breast Cancer Liver Metastasis: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Oncology (2021).
2. Stereotactic Radiofrequency Ablation of Breast Cancer Liver Metastases: Short- and Long-Term Results with Predicting Factors for Survival. CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology (2021).
3. Resection of liver metastases from breast cancer: a multicentre analysis. Clinical and Translational Oncology (2019).