Clinico-epidemiologic characteristics and patterns of care in Merkel cell carcinoma: Data from a single-institution series.

e21049 Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is associated with increased sun exposure. There is an average of 348 days of sunshine per year in our geographic area. Methods: With the IRB approval, we performed a retrospective chart review of all consecutive MCC patients seen at our institution between 2006-2017. Clinico-epidemiologic data such as age, gender, race, stage, tumor size, stage at presentation, and disease course were collected. Therapy and survival were analyzed. Using the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program (SEER), we identified 4,256 patients with MCC from the years 2006-2013. We compared our data with the SEER findings . Statistical analysis: Chi-square and Fishers’ exact tests were used to assess the significance of associations in large and small populations, respectively. Survival analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards. Results: We identified 40 patients with MCC (n = 40) with a median age of 77. Compared to SEER data, our population was entirely Caucasian (100% vs. 95%; p = 0.11) and male predominant (75% vs. 63%; p = 0.11). The patients in our cohort were diagnosed more often with TNM stage I (50% vs. 39%; p = 0.00003) and found to have more often a primary tumor size < 2cm (58% vs. 34%; p < 0.01). Our patients were more frequently treated with lymph node dissection (70% vs. 63%, p = 0.002) and radiation therapy (60% vs. 50%; p = 0.24). Conclusions: Compared to the general population, MCC patients treated at our institution had similar mean age at diagnosis, gender and racial distribution and radiation treatment frequency (all p-values > 0.05). However, our patient population was significantly more likely to be diagnosed at stage I disease, have a primary tumor size less than 2 cm and receive lymph node dissection. Final statistical analysis, including survival analysis, and significance are to be discussed.