Clinical Features of the Patients with Merkel Cell Carcinoma in Korea / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

Background@#Merkel cell carcinoma is an uncommon primary cutaneous neuroendocrine cancer. It is a highly aggressive cancer with high rates of local recurrence and nodal metastasis. While there are some case reports on Korean patients with Merkel cell carcinoma, there has been no comparison study between Western patients and Korean patients regarding its clinical features. @*Objective@#This study aimed to identify the clinical features of Merkel cell carcinoma in Korean patients and compare them with those seen in Western studies. @*Methods@#We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who were diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma between January 1995 and May 2019. Clinical features were compared with those seen in Western studies. @*Results@#Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the analysis. The mean age of onset was 67.6 years, and there were more female patients (1:1.58). The head and neck was the most common primary site (38.7%, 12/31). Patients treated by surgical methods alone were the most common (58.1%, 18/31). Twelve patients (38.7%) had recurrence, and seven patients (22.6%) died of Merkel cell carcinoma. Patients younger than 70 years were more frequent in Korea than in Western countries (Fishers exact test, p＜0.05). In addition, patients with distant metastasis were less frequent in Korea than in Western countries (Fishers exact test, p＜0.05). @*Conclusion@#Compared with Western studies, there were no differences between demographic and clinical features, except that older patients and patients with distant metastasis were less frequent in Korea.