Objective To evaluate the prospective outcome and summarize experience in re-resection for recurrent liver cancer and extrahepatic metastases. Methods The clinical data of 267 patients with recurrent primary liver cancer (PLC) after re-resection from January 1960 to July 2000 were retrospectively analyzed. Re-hepatectomy was performed on 205 cases, resection of extrahepatic metastases on 51 cases and combined resection of recurrent liver cancer and extrahepatic metastases on 11 cases. The clinico-pathologic features, operation type and survival were compared. Results The types of liver re-resection included left lateral lobectomy in 11.2% of patients, hemihepatetomy and extended hemi-hepatectomy in 4.4%, local radical resection in 68.3%, other subsegmentectomy in 17.1%. The peak recurrence rate (64.4%) occurred at 1–2 years. The overall 1-, 3, 5- and 10-year survival rates after second resection were 81.0%, 40.3%, 19.4% and 9.0% respectively, while they were 77.5%, 29.8%, 13.2% and 6.61% respectively after the third resection. The median survival time was 44 months. The re-resection with extrahepatic metastases also provided the possibility of longer survival. Conclusion The results suggest that subsegmentectomy and local excision is appropriate for the hepatic repeat resection. The peak recurrence may be correlated with portal thrombus and operative factor. The re-resection can be indicated not only in intrahepatic recurrent metastases but also in extrahepatic metastases in selected patients. Re-resection has become the treatment of choice for recurrence of PLC, as neither chemotherapy nor other nonsurgical therapies can achieve such favorable results. Key words prospective outcome - re-resection - primary liver cancer - recurrence - extrahepatic metastases
