If adjuvant radiation is indicated for a Merkel cell carcinoma of the upper extremity and hypofractionation is desired, what dosing regimens are recommended?

While more common cancers (breast, prostate, etc.) have well-designed clinical trials that demonstrate equivalence of hypofractionated radiotherapy and conventionally fractionated radiotherapy, similar types of studies are lacking in less common cancers like Merkel cell carcinoma. Part of the diffic...

8 Gy in a single fraction for a completely resected tumor. Our extensive work from the University of Washington on this topic is going through peer review and should be published in a couple of months.

UW performed a single-institutional analysis of 46 patients treated with a single fraction, 8 Gy, after resection of Merkel cell cancer and reported it in abstract form in 2023. Goff et al., IJRO 2023, focused on local recurrence, defined as recurrence within 2 cm of the resected tumor. They assesse...

An updated version of our data with an expanded cohort and comparing no RT vs. conventional fx vs 800 cGy x 1 is under review. Watch this space.