Multicenter retrospective study of survival of patients with head and neck Merkel cell carcinoma

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma. A retrospective study by the Pan-Canadian Merkel Cell Cancer Collaborative evaluated overall survival of patients in Canada with head and neck (HN)MCC. The study included 400 patients with MCC of face, scalp, neck,ear, eyelid, or lip. The most common treatment was surgery followed by radiotherapy, although radiotherapy alone was most common for stage IV disease. The figur shows survival outcomes. Survival was highest among patients receiving surgery and radiotherapy compared with surgery alone. On multivariable analysis, patients treated with surgery and radiotherapy had greater OS compared with those treated with surgery alone (HR 0.76; 95% CI 0.46-1.25); however, this was not statistically significant. Patients who received no treatment had significantly worse OS (HR 1.93; 95% CI 1.26-2.96). The authors conclude that stage and treatment modality werd associated with survival.