ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 1998 August;133(4):243-6

Copyright © 1998 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Epidemiological features of a population-based series of thirteen Merkel cell cancers

Crocetti E.

Azienda Ospedaliera Careggi - Firenze, CSPO - Unità Operativa Epidemiologia

Background. This is, to ­our knowl­edge, ­the ­first pop­u­la­tion-­based ­study car­ried ­out to eval­u­ate ­the epi­dem­i­ol­o­gy—inci­dence, mor­tal­ity ­and sur­vi­val ­rates—of Merkel ­cell car­ci­no­ma (­MCC).
Methods. Data ­from ­the Tuscany Tumour Registry, a pop­u­la­tion-­based reg­is­try oper­at­ing in ­the Provinces of Florence ­and Prato ­since 1984, ­were con­sid­ered.
Results. During ­the peri­od 1985-1991, 13 Merkel ­cell ­tumours (10 wom­en ­and 3 ­men) ­were diag­nosed in ­the res­i­dent pop­u­la­tion. The ­age-adjust­ed (­world stan­dard) inci­dence ­rate ­was 0.47×106. The com­mon­est local­iza­tion ­was ­the ­skin of ­head ­and ­neck (53.8%) fol­lowed by ­the ­skin of ­the extrem­ities (30.8%). The ­median ­age at diag­no­sis ­was 81.5 ­years. During a ­mean ­time of obser­va­tion of 27.7 ­months, 11 ­patients ­died. The ­main ­cause of ­death ­was ­MCC. The ­observed ­and rel­a­tive 5-­year sur­vi­val ­rates ­were 23.1% ­and 37.4%, respec­tive­ly.
Conclusion. Merkel ­cell car­ci­no­ma ­was con­firmed to be a ­very ­rare ­tumour, occur­ring in eld­er­ly peo­ple, ­and ­with a ­poor prog­no­sis.