Would you recommend sentinel lymph node biopsy at the time of wide excision for a 3 mm Merkel cell carcinoma of the cheek/lateral canthus?
Answer from: at Academic Institution
Unlike melanoma and certainly NMSC, MCC is highly unpredictable in nature, with clinical lesion size having little clinical prognostic value. As such, it appears that SLNB is valuable in many cases for the purposes of prognosis and in determining the need for adjuvant systemic therapy and radiation....
Comments
Medical Oncologist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Yes, I agree with the SLNB in this specific settin...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
The size of the MCC lesion has been associated with an increased risk of occult nodal disease, though the numbers are typically greater than 1 cm in size, and not 3 mm (Han and St John, PMID 35394247; Gonzalez et al., PMID 36446191). In terms of irradiating a lesion close to the eye, if it's ne...
Yes, I agree with the SLNB in this specific settin...