| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Surgery, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI, USA;2. Division of Surgical Oncology, Spectrum Health Medical Group, Grand Rapids, MI, USA;3. Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
| Abstract: | BackgroundDefinitive radiotherapy has been suggested as a treatment alternative to surgical resection in Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).MethodsPatients with MCC were identified from the National Cancer Database. Propensity score matching accounting for age, Charlson-Deyo score, grade, and AJCC stage was used to match patients in 1:1 fashion by primary treatment (surgery vs. radiotherapy).ResultsThere were 1227 patients in each group. Median overall survival was improved with surgical resection in stage I/II (76 vs. 25 months, p < 0.001) and stage III disease (30 vs. 15 months, p < 0.001). For stage I/II, 5- and 8-year overall survival were 61% and 42%, in the surgical resection and 32% and 25% in the definitive radiotherapy groups, respectively. For stage III, 5- and 8-year overall survival were 34% and 21% for surgical resection and 19% and 16% in the radiotherapy group, respectively.ConclusionsSurgical resection for MCC improves median survival compared to definitive radiotherapy while marginally improving long-term survival. |
