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Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on March 24, 2006
Annals of Oncology 2006 17(10):1489-1495; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdl050
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© 2006 European Society for Medical Oncology

reviews

Merkel cell cancer of the skin

D Pectasides*, M Pectasides and T Economopoulos

Second Department of Internal Medicine, Oncology Section, University of Athens, ‘Attikon’ University Hospital, Haidari, 1 Rimini, Athens, Greece

*Correspondence to: Dr D. Pectasides, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Propaedeutic, Oncology Section, Attikon University Hospital, Rimini 1, Haidari, Athens, Greece. Tel: +3210-5831691; Fax: +3210-5831690; E-mail: pectasid{at}otenet.gr

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare malignant cutaneous tumor of the elderly with rapidly growing skin nodules found predominantly on sun-exposed areas of the body. The vast majority of patients present with localized disease, while up to 30% have regional lymph node metastases. Despite local excision and the incidence of local recurrence, regional lymph node metastases and distant metastases is high and usually occurs within 2 years of primary diagnosis. The optimal treatment for patients with MCC remains unclear. The best outcome is achieved with multidisciplinary management including surgical excision of primary tumor with adequate margins and post-operative radiotherapy (RT) to control local and regional disease. Patients with regional nodal metastases should be treated with lymph node dissection plus RT. Adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) should be considered as part of the initial management. In case of metastatic disease CT based on regimens used for small-cell lung cancer is the standard treatment of care.

Key words: chemotherapy, Merkel cell carcinoma, prognosis, radiotherapy, surgery


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