Approximately 50% of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) will develop metastases, and 25% will present with distant metastases at diagnosis. CRC disseminates predominantly to the liver.

In patients with coloreactal cancer en liver-only metastases the 5 year overall survival rates has clearly improved due to increased use of surgical resections of metastases, development of new surgical methods and interventions and efficacy of systemic drugs. In patients with initial unresectable metastases can become secondary resectable after downsizing metastases with induction systemic therapy. However, the optimal neoadjuvant induction regimen has not been defined, and no consensus exist on criteria for resectability. CAIRO5 is a phase 3 randomised clinical trial of the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group comparing induction treatment strategies in colorectal cancer patients in initially unresectable liver-only metastases. In this multi-center study the planned patient accrual is 564 and the primary endpoint is median progression-free survival.

In the next 3 years the PhD candidate will focus on analyzing data of patients with liver –only metastases in colorectal cancer.