REVIEW article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Visceral Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1608467
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Evolving Role of Liver Transplantation for the treatment of Malignant Tumors: Current Perspectives and Future DirectionsView all 3 articles
The Evolving Role of Liver Transplantation for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Current Perspectives and Future Directions
Provisionally accepted
- University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Liver transplantation is increasingly being explored as a treatment option for select patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Historically, transplantation for mCRC was abandoned due to poor long-term outcomes and high recurrence rates. However, recent advancements in patient selection, immunosuppressive strategies, and donor organ availability have led to a renewed interest in this approach. Studies have demonstrated that highly selected patients undergoing liver transplantation can achieve significantly improved survival rates compared to those receiving standard systemic therapies. The implementation of Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) exception points, improved donor preservation techniques such as machine perfusion, and the growing role of living donor liver transplantation have further supported its feasibility. As research continues, liver transplantation may emerge as a crucial component of a multidisciplinary strategy for treating colorectal liver metastases, offering a select group of patients a chance at prolonged survival and improved quality of life.
Keywords: Metastatic colorectal cancer, Hepatic metastasis, Liver Transplantation, MELD Exception, Machine perfusion
Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 25 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bendersky, Olaso and Schnickel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gabriel T Schnickel, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.