Mild Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Merkel Cell Carcinoma

Characterization of clinical outcomes after shorter course hypofractionated and standard-course radiotherapy for stage I-III curatively-treated Merkel cell carcinoma

“…Because hypofractionated RT (hypo-RT) regimens are more convenient for patients, and particularly for the elderly and medically frail, shorter course hypo-RT has been studied in other non-melanoma skin cancers [22]. However, there is limited data for the efficacy of shorter-course hypo-RT in MCC [23][24][25]. A recent study of 12 patients with clinical Stage I-II head and neck MCC treated with single fraction postoperative RT (8 Gy in 1 fraction) found no in-field recurrences with a median followup of 19 months [23].…”

Radiotherapy in Merkel cell carcinoma of facial skin with lymph node recurrence

“…There are also case reports with good treatment results with hypofractionation. 7,8 In this case, the patient refused to receive surgery again when the cancer recurred after surgery due to her old age. Therefore, radiotherapy was performed only at the local recurrence site with a salvage aim.…”