Rare occurrence of metastatic colorectal cancers in livers with replicative hepatitis B infection

Background: It has been demonstrated that colorectal carcinomas rarely meta stasize to diseased livers. However. this phenomenon has not been thoroughl y evaluated in patients with various forms of chronic hepatitis B virus (HB V) infection. Therefore. the present study examined the relationship betwee n the incidence of hepatic metastasis of colorectal carcinomas and chronic HBV infection, with emphasis on the influence of HBV viral replication and chronic liver damage. Methods: We analyzed the clinicopathological data of 512 patients undergoin g surgical treatment of colorectal carcinomas at our department from 1992 t o 1998. Among these cases, 74 had chronic HBV infection, including 28 cases with HBV replication and 21 with chronic liver damage. Results: The incidence of liver metastasis in the HBV infection group (13.5 %) was significantly lower than that of the noninfection group (27.1 %, P < 0.05). In addition, patients with HBV infection survived longer than those without infection (P = 0.018). Furthermore, liver metastatic rate in patie nts with HBV replication (3.6%) was lower than those without virus replicat ion (19.6% P < 0.05). In contrast. there was no significant difference in l iver metastasis between HBV infected patients with or without chronic liver damage (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Chronic HBV infection with viral replication reduces hepatic m etastasis of colorectal cancer. and thus prolongs the survival of patients. (C) 2001 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved.