Table 1.
Characteristics of the 6908 MCC patients in the NCDB study cohort
| Characteristic | Stage, No. (%) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage I (n = 3369) | Stage II (n = 1474) | Stage III (n = 2065) | |
| Treatment | |||
| Surgery | 1621 (48) | 670 (45) | 537 (26) |
| Surgery + RT | 1540 (46) | 595 (40) | 841 (41) |
| Surgery + chemo | 32 | 38 (3) | 104 (5) |
| Surgery + RT + chemo | 118 (4) | 106 (7) | 364 (18) |
| RT | 48 | 47 (3) | 105 (5) |
| RT + chemo | 10 (<1) | 18 | 114 (6) |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 1974 (59) | 881 (60) | 1356 (66) |
| Female | 1395 (41) | 593 (40) | 709 (34) |
| Age, y * | |||
| ≤64 | 634 (19) | 249 (17) | 436 (21) |
| 65–74 | 820 (24) | 339 (23) | 514 (25) |
| 75–84 | 1310 (39) | 526 (36) | 800 (39) |
| ≥85 | 605 (18) | 360 (24) | 315 (15) |
| Charlson/Deyo comorbidity score | |||
| 0 | 2102 (62) | 861 (58) | 1273 (62) |
| 1 | 389 (12) | 198 (13) | 277 (13) |
| 2+ | 86 (3) | 54 (4) | 79 (4) |
| Unknown | 792 (24) | 361 (24) | 436 (21) |
| Site of primary tumor | |||
| Head & neck | 1707 (51) | 522 (35) | 825 (40) |
| Trunk | 243 (7) | 223 (15) | 263 (13) |
| Limbs (and others) | 1419 (42) | 729 (49) | 977 (47) |
| Primary tumor size (diameter) † , cm | |||
| ≤1 | 1368 (41) | – | – |
| >1–≤2 | 1370 (41) | – | – |
| >2–≤3 | – | 713 (48) | – |
| >3–≤4 | – | 253 (17) | – |
| >4 | – | 333 (23) | – |
| Unknown | 631 (19) | 175 (12) | – |
| Margin status ‡ , § | |||
| Negative | 2905 (88) | 1095 (78) | 1437 (78) |
| Positive | 266 (8) | 245 (17) | 296 (16) |
| Unknown | 140 (4) | 69 (5) | 113 (6) |
| Lymph nodes examined? (stage I, II only) † , § | |||
| No | 1650 (50) | 832 (59) | – |
| Yes | 1621 (49) | 551 (39) | – |
| Unknown | 40 | 26 (2) | – |
| Regional lymphadenectomy (stage III only) § | |||
| No (<5 removed) | – | – | 777 (42) |
| Yes (≥5 removed) | – | – | 965 (52) |
| Unknown | – | – | 104 (6) |
| Number of metastatic nodes (stage III only) ‖ | |||
| 1 | – | – | 806 (39) |
| 2 | – | – | 289 (14) |
| 3–6 | – | – | 301 (15) |
| 7–12 | – | – | 122 (6) |
| 13–59 | – | – | 71 (3) |
| Unknown | – | – | 476 (23) |
*Median age at diagnosis for entire cohort was 76 years (range = 20–90 years). chemo = chemotherapy; MCC = Merkel cell carcinoma; NCDB = National Cancer Database; RT = radiation therapy.
†Listed only for stages I and II here, as were included in multivariable analyses for these stages.
‡Positive margin status indicates residual tumor identified, grossly or microscopically, after surgery.
§Includes surgery patients only (ie, excludes patients who got RT alone).
‖Regional lymphadenectomy was arbitrarily defined as done only if five or more lymph nodes were removed (as lesser number could have been done as part of the sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure). Also, this variable is listed for stage III only, as included in multivariable analyses for this stage.