Targeted exome-based predictors of patterns of progression of colorectal liver metastasis after percutaneous thermal ablation.

Background: Percutaneous thermal ablation is a curative-intent locoregional therapy (LRT) for selected patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastasis (CLM). Several factors have been identified that contribute to local tumour control after ablation. However, factors contributing to disease progression outside the ablation zone after ablation are poorly understood.

Methods: In this retrospective study, using next-generation sequencing, we identified genetic biomarkers associated with different patterns of progression following thermal ablation of CLM.

Results: A total of 191 ablation naïve patients between January 2011 and March 2020 were included in the analysis, and 101 had genomic profiling available. Alterations in the TGFβ pathway were associated with increased risk of development of new intrahepatic tumours (hazard ratio [HR], 2.75, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.39-5.45, P = 0.004); and alterations in the Wnt pathway were associated with increased probability of receiving salvage LRT for any intrahepatic progression (HR, 5.8, 95% CI 1.94-19.5, P = 0.003).

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that genomic alterations in cancer-related signalling pathways can predict different progression patterns and the likelihood of receiving salvage LRT following percutaneous thermal ablation of CLM.