Demographic and Clinicopathological Factors as Predictors of Lymph Node Metastasis in Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Population-Based Analysis

Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive malignant skin tumor with high recurrence and low survival. Lymph nodal metastases are associated with a worse overall prognosis. Our aim was to assess how lymph node procedures and positivity are influenced by demographic, tumor, and treatment characteristics. The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database was searched for all cases of Merkel cell carcinoma of the skin between 2000 and 2019. Univariable analysis was conducted using the chi-squared test with the aim of identifying differences in lymph node procedures and lymph node positivity for each variable. We identified 9182 patients, of which 3139 had sentinel lymph node biopsy/sampling, and 1072 had therapeutic lymph node dissection. Increasing age, increasing tumor size, and truncal location were associated with higher positive lymph node rates.