ReportClinical characteristics of Merkel cell carcinoma at diagnosis in 195 patients: the AEIOU features
Section snippets
Methods
Institutional review board approval was obtained from each institution. Tumor registry data and prospective patient identification (beginning in 2003) were used to identify 195 patients from 3 medical centers in Boston, Mass (Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital) and two medical centers in Seattle, Wash (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and University of Washington Medical Center). The study included patients with a pathologic diagnosis of
Patient characteristics
As shown in Table I, the median age at diagnosis was 69 years, with 90% of patients being older than 50 years. There was a slight male predominance with a ratio of 1.4:1 (58.5% male and 41.5% female). The vast majority of patients were white (98%), with only 4 patients being nonwhite (3 Asian and 1 black). Profound immunosuppression including HIV (3 patients), CLL (8 patients), or solid organ transplantation (4 patients) was noted in 7.8% of patients. The mean age of presentation of the
Discussion
This study of 195 patients was conducted to identify key features of MCC that may aid clinicians in recognizing when a biopsy may be warranted. The basic demographic profile of our cohort is similar to that described in other studies: mostly elderly, white, and with a slight male predominance.
The anatomic distribution of the tumors seen in our study further supports sun exposure as a risk factor for the development of MCC, consistent with prior studies. Agelli and Clegg3 used SEER registry data
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Dr Jaimes is currently affiliated with Dermatology, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín, Colombia. Dr Mostaghimi is currently affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass.
Supported by Harvard/National Cancer Institute Skin Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE), University of Washington Merkel Cell Carcinoma Research Fund, National Institutes of Health K02-AR050993, and American Cancer Society Jerry Wachter Fund.
Conflicts of interest: None declared.
Selected and limited preliminary descriptive results presented in abstract form at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, in Los Angeles, California, on May 12, 2007.