News & Publications

Although MCC fortunately does not often spread to the brain, this is an especially difficult site to treat. This manuscript summarizes results from four patients that closely mimic our own experience in Seattle. That is, there is a reasonable chance that patients with MCC that has spread to the brai...

In a study of 72 locally advanced MCC (disease involving regional lymph nodes) patients, the authors report that radiation therapy to the lymph nodes improves disease specific survival and reduces regional and distant recurrences.

This retrospective multi center analysis aimed to assess the outcomes of patients with metastatic of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) after discontinuation of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI treatment) such as Pembrolizumab and Avelumab. Data on treatment duration, tumor response, treatment cessation, ...

In a real-world study of 94 patients with locally advanced and metastatic MCC, 54 patients were treated with first line immunotherapy and 40 patients were treated with chemotherapy. The authors report that patients have improved outcomes with immunotherapy compared to chemotherapy. This may provide ...

With philanthropic support, the Nghiem Lab carried out research that has shown that for MCC, narrower surgical margins, when given with radiation, provide excellent protection against local disease recurrence.

A recent study by the Nghiem Lab, supported by philanthropy, found that a baseline PET-CT scan discovered ‘hidden’ disease in 1 in 6 patients with MCC, dramatically changing their treatment plans.

This publication adds to an already large number of studies that indicate that radiation can be considered a very effective primary therapy for MCC, particularly if surgery is not feasible. The Australians often treat MCC with radiation rather than surgery, and outcomes are very good. This concept j...

P01 members Paul Nghiem, Shailender Bhatia, Candice Church, Tomoko Akaike, and Michi Shinohara were co-authors on this exciting study that looked at first-line pembrolizumab treatment responses in patients with advanced MCC with a 3 year follow up. Authors found there was a 58% overall response rate...

Although carried out in mice, this study may have interesting implications for our patients. If radiation and immune therapy (such as Keytruda/pembrolizumab or Bavencio/avelumab) are to be given around the same time as radiation, this study suggests that radiation should be given before immune ther...

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a skin cancer with a high risk of recurrence and distant spread. Optimal care of this cancer is important. However, management is challenging because it is rare and its treatment is continuously evolving across multiple specialties. While treatment guidelines offer a b...