Is Aggressive Surgical Management Justified in the Treatment of Merkel Cell Carcinoma?

The Merkel cell carcinoma: survival and oncogene markers

“…They occur most commonly in the 7th and 8th decades of life, 29 the average age at presentation for our patients was 68.3 years, and are equally distributed between males and females, 12 although our study showed a female/male ratio of 1 : 3.3. The tumour may appear at any site, but some authors found it most often on the head/neck and lower limbs 28,31,32 . The distribution of the lesions for our patients were seven (53.8%) on the head and neck region, four (30.8%) on the lower limbs or buttocks, one (7.7%) on the trunk and one (7.7%) on an upper limb, in agreement with previous findings.…”

Candidate's Thesis: The Application of Sentinel Node Radiolocalization to Solid Tumors of the Head and Neck: A 10‐Year Experience

“…Nodules are smooth and non‐ulcerated and can range from red to violet and from blue to brown. 68–70,75,76 The most common site of occurrence is the sun‐exposed area of the head and neck, followed by the lower extremities and trunk. 75 Patients usually present in the seventh and eighth decades of life and are typically white.…”

A Practical Update of Surgical Management of Merkel Cell Carcinoma of the Skin

“…In other words adjuvant therapy is not able to compensate for inadequate initial surgery. If only local excision of the primary lesion was performed, local recurrence occurred in 39% and regional failure occurred in 46% [122]. Regardless of stage, patients treated with local excision alone had a 52% 5-year overall survival, while patients treated with local excision and lymph node dissection had an 87% survival rate [123].…”