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by Fernando Roque, MD, Feb 11, 2008 07:33PM
, Feb 11, 2008 07:33PMTo: ALDRE
Hi. Merkel Cell Carcinoma is a very rare form of skin cancer which occurs most commonly in the skin covering the head, face and neck. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light has been indirectly implicated in its development. It's an aggressive tumor, and has a high probability of recurrence (20-75% depending on stage). It also has a propensity for metastasizing to lymph nodes (31-80%) and other organs such as the lung, liver, brain, gastrointestinal tract and bladder(26-75%). The median survival for stage 1 patients is 8 years (97 months), but goes down to 15 months for stage 2 and 6 months for metastatic disease (stage 4). Treatment usually consists of a combination of wide surgical excision and lymph node dissection, combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy (for metastatic disease).
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