Association between race, hospital volume of major liver surgery, and access to metastasectomy for colorectal liver metastasis

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that non-White patients with colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) were significantly less likely to undergo liver metastasectomy compared to White patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in access to liver metastasectomy for CRLM according to race and hospital-year volume of liver surgery (HVLS). Methods: The National Cancer Database (2011-2017) was used to identify patients with CRLM. Hospitals were stratified into quartiles according to HVLS. An adjusted Poisson regression model was used to evaluate the interaction between race and HVLS and access to liver metastasectomy. Results: We identified 27,340 patients with CRLM. Non-White patients were less likely to undergo a liver metastasectomy compared to White patients (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.82-0.91, p < 0.001). This racial disparity persisted at the highest quartile HVLS hospitals. Conclusions: Receiving cancer care at hospitals with the highest HVLS did not translate into equal access to liver metastasectomy for non-White patients with CRLM.

Automated summary

Previous studies have shown that non-White patients with colorectal liver metastasis are less likely to undergo liver metastasectomy compared to White patients. This study found that this racial disparity persisted regardless of the hospital-year volume of liver surgery.