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Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Thursday, July 25, 2024
Adjuvant radiation therapy is often used for locoregional disease among patients with Merkel cell carcinoma, though it’s unknown whether it influences survival outcomes. During the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 9593), George Ansstas, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and colleagues presented the results of their trial, which evaluated whether postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy increased disease-specific survival in patients with stages I and II Merkel cell carcinoma.
“This study demonstrates there is no statistically significant disease-specific survival benefit from adjuvant radiation therapy for stage I and II Merkel cell carcinoma in the Survival, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database,” concluded the study authors. “Interestingly, in stage I patients, we find a significant negative association between adjuvant radiation therapy and disease-specific survival. Further studies regarding the effect of radiation therapy on local disease control and tumor microenvironment are needed to establish the appropriate role of radiotherapy in stage I to II Merkel cell carcinoma patients.”
The investigators focused on the survival outcomes of 2,423 patients with histologically confirmed Merkel cell carcinoma who underwent surgery with or without radiation therapy from 2004 to 2020 and whose results were available in the SEER database. The 5-year disease-specific survival was compared between participants with stage I (n = 1,679) and stage II (n = 726) Merkel cell carcinoma. The median patient age of those who underwent surgery and radiotherapy vs surgery alone was 72 and 77, respectively.
The study authors reported that adjuvant radiotherapy was not associated with improved disease-free survival; however, adjuvant radiotherapy correlated with a statistically significant decrease in 5-year disease-specific survival among patients with stage I disease compared with those who underwent surgery alone (P = .023). Furthermore, the addition of radiotherapy to surgery resulted in a numerical increase in disease-specific survival among individuals with stage II disease compared with those who underwent surgery alone (77.0% vs 74.4%).
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
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