Chemoembolization Using Irinotecan in Treating Patients With Liver Metastases From Metastatic Colon or Rectal Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have a histologically or cytologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum that is metastatic to the liver and for which standard curative measures do not exist * Patients must have received prior irinotecan-based treatment for their disease and had documented progression by RECIST criteria; patients must also have received prior fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin-based therapy * Liver disease must not be amenable to potentially curative surgical resection * Patients must have liver-only or liver-predominant disease to be eligible for this study; hepatic disease must be dominant, but patients are allowed to have extrahepatic disease provided it is not judged likely to be life threatening within 3 months * Patients must have a patent portal vein as documented by CT, MRI, or ultrasound * Prior radiation therapy is allowed but must have been completed \>= 4 weeks prior to study entry; patients with history of prior radiation to the liver including radio-labeled microspheres cannot take part in this study * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0-1 * Previous surgery or RFA to the liver is allowed; patients with history of chemoembolization or radio-labeled microspheres are excluded * Life expectancy of \>= 12 weeks * Leukocytes \>= 3,000/uL * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/uL * Platelets \>= 100,000/uL * Total bilirubin =\< ULN * AST(SGOT)/ALT(SGPT)/Alkaline Phosphatase =\< 2.5 X institutional ULN * Creatinine \…