Site Editor
Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Tuesday, February 15, 2022
An article published in Cancer Medicine highlighted the efficacy of surgical resection of Merkel cell carcinomas in elderly patients. Bingrong Zhou, MD, of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, and colleagues found that age and surgery were independent prognostic factors for patients aged 75 and older. They also found that patients aged 85 and older who underwent tumor resection had an increased overall survival compared with those who did not.
“Comprehensive screening of elderly patients with [Merkel cell carcinomas] should be conducted to select patients with a high tolerance for surgical trauma and better general physical condition…. We should weigh the pros and cons and make medical decisions much more carefully,” stated Dr. Zhou and colleagues.
Data from a total of 1,156 patients aged 75 and older were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Differences in baseline characteristics were analyzed, and patients were categorized into specific age groups (75–80, 80–85, and ≥ 85 years). A multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to assess the effects of each variable on overall survival and Merkel cell carcinoma–specific survival.
Findings revealed that the overall survival was better for patients in between the ages of 80 and 85 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14%–1.70%; P = .001). Compared with the nonsurgery groups, the hazard ratios for the surgery group were 0.75 for overall survival (95% CI = 0.56%–1.00%; P = .048) and 0.73 for Merkel cell carcinoma–specific survival (95% CI = 0.48%–1.10%; P =.130). Subgroup analyses revealed that patients aged 85 and older who underwent surgery had better overall survival than their nonsurgical counterparts (HR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.45%–0.95%; P = .024). Based on these findings, the authors concluded that further trials are needed, and surgical resections should be cautiously performed in older patients with this type of skin cancer.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
JNCCN Spotlights
