Survival benefit and complications of primary tumor resection (PTR) in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) in the era of modern chemotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

3580 Background: Although there is evidences that PTR in advanced CRC may improve outcome, most studies were conducted during the period of monotherapy with 5-fluorouracil. Limited data is available regarding potential benefits and risk of PTR in patients with stage IV CRC treated with modern chemotherapy (MC). A recent phase II study suggested that outcomes are not compromised by leaving the primary colon tumor intact in such patients (JCO.2012;30:3223). Purpose:To compare survival of patients with advanced CRC who underwent PTR with patients without resection in the era of MC. The review also aims to determine post-operative mortality and non-fatal complications rates, primary tumor complications rate (PTCR), non-resection surgical procedures rate (NSPR) and quality of life (QOL). Methods: A literature search was conducted by using CENTRAL (2012), Medline (1946-2012), and EMBASE (1947-2012). Studies involving patients with stage IV CRC who underwent PTR were selected with restriction to publication date...