Evaluation of clinical characteristics and pre-biopsy impressions of primary Merkel cell carcinoma of the skin
Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive carcinoma of the skin notable for protean presentation on physical exam. A retrospective cohort of 232 patients with primary cutaneous Merkel cell carcinoma was reviewed for availability of data on pre-biopsy clinical differential diagnosis based on clinical ex...
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Published in | Dermatology online journal Vol. 27; no. 10 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
University of California Digital Library - eScholarship
15.10.2021
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive carcinoma of the skin notable for protean presentation on physical exam. A retrospective cohort of 232 patients with primary cutaneous Merkel cell carcinoma was reviewed for availability of data on pre-biopsy clinical differential diagnosis based on clinical exam. Data was available for 192 patients (83%). The three most common impressions were cyst (33.3%), basal cell carcinoma (31.8%), and squamous cell carcinoma (19.8%). Merkel cell carcinoma was correctly suspected in only 13 cases (6.8%). A greater proportion of lesions that were less than or equal to 2 cm in diameter (10.2%) or carried BCC as a co-diagnosis (11.5%) were correctly suspected as Merkel cell carcinoma prior to biopsy, versus lesions greater than 2 cm in diameter (1.6%) or carrying SCC as a co-diagnosis (2.6%), suggesting that clinicians may be anchoring on the well-publicized concept of Merkel cell carcinoma as a small, pearly papule in real-world practice. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1087-2108 1087-2108 |
DOI: | 10.5070/D3271055614 |