Table 2.

Patient characteristics, systemic chemotherapy and response to treatment

Reference	Total patients selected initially for ‘Liver-first Approach’	Rectal Primary n (%)	Colonic symptoms at the time of presentation n (%)	Preoperative chemotherapy n (%)	Chemotherapy regimens	Radiological response rate of chemotherapya n (%)	Colonic complications during chemotherapy n (%)
Mentha16	35	NR	0 (0)	35 (100)	Oxalipatin, Irinotecan, 5-FU, leucovorin ± bevacizumab and/or cetuximab	NR	1/35b (3)
Verhoef17	23	23 (100)	23 (100)	22 (96)	5-FU/Capecitabine, Oxaliplatin or Irinotecan ± bevacizumab	16/22 (73)	1/22c (5)
Brouquet18	41	28 (68)	NR	41 (100)	5-FU, Oxaliplatin or Irinotecan ± bevacizumab and/or cetuximab	NR	2/41d (5)
De Jong19	22	19 (86)	16 (73)	22 (100)	Non-locally advanced rectal cancer: Short course pelvic radiation (5X5 Gy) + 3 cycles of oxaliplatin ± bevacizumab Locally advanced rectal cancer(T3-4, N1-2): Long course pelvic radiation (28 fractions of 1.8 Gy radication) with capecitabine + 2 cycles of oxaliplatin ± bevacizumab	NR	2/22e (10)
Total percentage		70/86 (81)	39/80 (49)	120/121 (99)			6/120 (5)
Range		68–100	0–100%				3–10
Total	121

^aComplete or partial response.

^bColonic occlusion requiring an emergency Hartmann’s procedure.

^cCaecal perforation requiring an emergency colectomy.

^dSymptomatic requiring an emergency colostomy.