Is the Addition of Chemotherapy to Adjuvant Radiation in Merkel Cell Cancer Beneficial? Real-World Data with Long-Term Follow-Up
Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Participants
2.2. Data Collection
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Study Population
3.2. Sample Size
3.3. Disease and Treatment Characteristics
3.4. Survival Outcomes
3.5. Disease-Free Survival
3.6. Survival Outcomes in MCC Patients Excluding Unknown Primary
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Characteristic | Chemoradiation (n = 52) | Radiation Only (n = 53) | p Value |
---|---|---|---|
Age, median (IQR [years]) | 65.9 (59–73) | 77.3(61.4–83.3) | 0.002 |
Male (%) | 36 (69.2) | 30 (56.6) | 0.181 |
Radiation (GY) median (IQR) [GY] | 50 (45–50) | 45 (38–50) | 0.002 |
Tumor site | |||
Head and Neck | 13 (25) | 15 (28.3) | 0.7 |
Torso | 5 (9.6) | 7 (13.2) | |
Upper limbs | 3 (5.8) | 14 (26.4) | |
Lower limbs | 6 (11.5) | 12 (22.6) | |
Buttocks | 7 (13.5) | 14 (7.5) | |
Unknown primary (lower body) | 15 (28.8) | 1 (1.9) | |
Unknown primary (upper body) | 3 (5.8) | 0 | |
T staging | 0.035 | ||
T1 | 13 (39.4) | 31 (59.6) | |
T2 | 15 (45.5) | 18 (34.6) | |
T3 | 4 (12.1) | 3 (5.8) | |
T4 | 1 (3) | 0 (0) | |
N staging | <0.001 | ||
N0 | 6 (11.5) | 37 (71.2) | |
N1 | 43 (82.7) | 14 (26.9) | |
N2 | 3 (5.8) | 1 (1.9) | |
TNM Stage | <0.001 | ||
1 | 3 (5.8) | 24 (45.3) | |
2a | 2 (3.8) | 14 (26.4) | |
2b | 1 (1.9) | 0 | |
3a | 16 (30.8) | 11 (20.8) | |
3b | 30 (57.2) | 4 (7.5) |
OS-5 Years | OS-20 Years | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variable | HR | 95% CI | p Value | HR | 95% CI | p Value |
Chemotherapy | 1.547 | 0.656–3.65 | 0.319 | 1.358 | 0.614–3.003 | 0.450 |
Age at diagnosis | 1.064 | 1.029–1.100 | <0.001 | 1.069 | 1.039–1.101 | <0.001 |
TNM stage | 0.696 | 0.722 | ||||
I | Ref * | Ref * | ||||
II | 1.114 | 0.385–3.229 | 0.696 | 0.283–1.713 | ||
III | 1.492 | 0.570–3.904 | 0.827 | 0.373–1.833 | ||
Location | 0.113 | 0.528 | ||||
Head and neck | Ref * | Ref * | ||||
Rest of body | 0.452 | 0.213–0.960 | 0.688 | 0.360–1.315 | ||
Unknown primary | 0.517 | 0.173–1.546 | 0.781 |
DFS-5 Years | |||
---|---|---|---|
Variable | HR | 95% CI | p Value |
Chemotherapy | 1.324 | 0.592–2.960 | 0.494 |
Age at diagnosis | 1.048 | 1.018–1.078 | <0.001 |
TNM stage | 0.819 | ||
I | Ref * | ||
II | 1.229 | 0.459–3.293 | |
III | 1.336 | 0.539–3.311 | |
Location | 0.17 | ||
Head and neck | Ref * | ||
Rest of body | 0.517 | 0.260–1.217 | |
Unknown primary | 0.685 | 0.263–1.784 |
Chemoradiation (n = 34) | Radiation (n = 34) | p Value | |
---|---|---|---|
5-Year OS (%) | 60.8 | 65.8 | 0.54 |
20-Year OS (%) | 51.6 | 31.2 | 0.58 |
5-Year DFS (%) | 55.3 | 59.9 | 0.64 |
20-Year DFS (%) | 46.7 | 29.9 | 0.62 |
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Shalata, W.; Edri, H.T.F.; Sarel, I.; Ievko, A.; Turaieva, S.; Tairov, T.; Berezhnov, I.; Fenig, S.; Fenig, E.; Ziv-Baran, T.; et al. Is the Addition of Chemotherapy to Adjuvant Radiation in Merkel Cell Cancer Beneficial? Real-World Data with Long-Term Follow-Up. Cancers 2025, 17, 945. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17060945
Shalata W, Edri HTF, Sarel I, Ievko A, Turaieva S, Tairov T, Berezhnov I, Fenig S, Fenig E, Ziv-Baran T, et al. Is the Addition of Chemotherapy to Adjuvant Radiation in Merkel Cell Cancer Beneficial? Real-World Data with Long-Term Follow-Up. Cancers. 2025; 17(6):945. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17060945
Chicago/Turabian StyleShalata, Walid, Hanna T. Frumin Edri, Ina Sarel, Anna Ievko, Sofiia Turaieva, Tanzilya Tairov, Ilia Berezhnov, Shlomit Fenig, Eyal Fenig, Tomer Ziv-Baran, and et al. 2025. "Is the Addition of Chemotherapy to Adjuvant Radiation in Merkel Cell Cancer Beneficial? Real-World Data with Long-Term Follow-Up" Cancers 17, no. 6: 945. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17060945
APA StyleShalata, W., Edri, H. T. F., Sarel, I., Ievko, A., Turaieva, S., Tairov, T., Berezhnov, I., Fenig, S., Fenig, E., Ziv-Baran, T., Yakobson, A., & Brenner, R. (2025). Is the Addition of Chemotherapy to Adjuvant Radiation in Merkel Cell Cancer Beneficial? Real-World Data with Long-Term Follow-Up. Cancers, 17(6), 945. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17060945