News & Publications

These researchers used a large database to analyze the outcomes of patients who received radiation therapy (RT), lymph node surgery (CLND; ‘completion lymph node dissection’), or a combination of both (RT+CLND). They found that overall survival rates were similar among patients who received each...

This study compared two surgical approaches, wide local excision (WLE) and Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), in the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). The researchers found no significant difference in overall survival or MCC-specific survival between the two approaches. However, MMS has other...

This study from France analyzed 15 cases of MCC in which the patients had a history of kidney transplant and thus were taking immune suppressive drugs. The authors found that 10 out of 15 of these MCC tumors were not caused by the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). Of the 10 virus-negative MCC tumors...

The annual update of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for MCC has just been posted.

In this population-based study of nearly 10,000 US patients with MCC, the authors found that Black patients are less likely to develop MCC than those with less skin pigmentation (about 6% of MCC cases were in Black patients, who make up about 15% of the US population). Black patients presented more ...

In this study of 40 patients from Australia with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, the authors found that about one third of patients had their MCC return within the first year of stopping immunotherapy. They also noted that if therapy extended longer, there appeared to be more protection from recur...

This study from Australia provides useful insight on the outcomes of more than 500 Merkel cell carcinoma patients in a place that relies heavily on radiation therapy. The risk of recurrence is very similar to what we see in the US and thus provides more confidence in current US-based data. This stud...

At the time of diagnosis, MCC is known to have spread from the primary site to other locations in over one third of cases. The best way to detect such spread is still debated, but major guidelines now suggest that a PET-CT scan is one preferred method. In this study, the authors analyzed 135 MCC pat...

This case study looks at 9 patients who developed cardiac metastases, a tricky situation on which very little data is currently available. We hope that by describing 9 cases, this will provide an easily accessible road map for clinicians around the world when this difficult situation arises. In man...

Researchers at Tel Aviv University found evidence that exercise can induce metabolic changes that decrease the growth and spread of cancer. They hypothesize that intense exercise leads to muscles using up glucose stores leaving behind very little energy sources for cancer cells to use. Regardless, t...