Hepatic Arterial Infusion With Floxuridine and Dexamethasone Combined With Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Colorectal Cancer That Has Spread to the Liver

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Assess the rate of conversion to complete resection in patients with initially unresectable colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver treated with hepatic arterial infusion comprising floxuridine and dexamethasone in combination with systemic irinotecan hydrochloride and either oxaliplatin or leucovorin calcium/fluorouracil. Secondary * Evaluate the time to progression in patients treated with this regimen. * Evaluate disease-free survival of patients treated with this regimen. * Evaluate overall survival of patients treated with this regimen. * Determine the response rate (complete, partial, and moderate response) in patients treated with this regimen. * Evaluate the safety profile and tolerability of this regimen in these patients. * Assess the expression pattern of the VEGF receptor VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and VEGFR3 and their cognate ligands (i.e., VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and P1GF) in patients treated with this regimen. * Correlate circulating angiogenic markers with tumor resectability, disease progression, and patient survival. * Procure normal and diseased liver tissue for evaluation of thymidylate synthase, p53 gene, p21, topoisomerase 1, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, and excision repair cross-complementing gene levels. * Assess the expression pattern of tissue factor (TF) and explore its correlation with the TF receptors PAR-1, PAR-2, TF regulators PTEN, k-ras, b- raf, p53, and outcome.(Closed as of 11/30/10) * Assess the prognostic and predictive role of preoperative, pretreatment, and during treatment serum TF in regards to outcome (progression-free survival and overall survival) and response to treatment with this regimen and to salvage treatments such as EGFR-inhibitors.(Closed as of 11/30/10) OUTLINE: This is an open-label, nonrandomized study. Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups according to receipt of more than 2 prior courses of oxaliplatin (no vs yes). * Group 1 (no more than 2 prior courses of oxaliplatin): Patients receive hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) therapy comprising floxuridine and dexamethasone continuously on days 1-14. Patients also receive oxaliplatin IV over 2 hours and irinotecan hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 15. Courses repeat every 4 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. * Group 2 (more than 2 prior courses of oxaliplatin): Patients receive HAI therapy as in group 1. Patients also receive irinotecan hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes and leucovorin calcium IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 15 and fluorouracil IV continuously over 48 hours on days 1, 2, 15, and 16. Courses repeat every 4 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. In both groups, patients may undergo complete resection of liver metastases after completion of at least 3 courses of therapy. Some patients undergo blood and tissue collection periodically for correlative and immunological studies. Samples are analyzed for VEGF receptor VEGFR1, VEGFR2, VEGFR3, thymidylate synthase, p53, p21, topoisomerase 1, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, and excision repair cross-complementing gene levels. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 4 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.