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A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine cancer that usually affects the elderly and immunosuppressed in sun-exposed areas. Due to its rarity, it is frequently unrecognized, and its management is not standardized across medical centers, despite the more recent av...

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Autores principales: Roberto, Michela, Botticelli, Andrea, Caggiati, Alessio, Chiriatti, Alberto, Della Rocca, Carlo, Ferraresi, Virginia, Musicco, Felice, Pellacani, Giovanni, Marchetti, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9600681/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36290847
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol29100570
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author Roberto, Michela
Botticelli, Andrea
Caggiati, Alessio
Chiriatti, Alberto
Della Rocca, Carlo
Ferraresi, Virginia
Musicco, Felice
Pellacani, Giovanni
Marchetti, Paolo
author_facet Roberto, Michela
Botticelli, Andrea
Caggiati, Alessio
Chiriatti, Alberto
Della Rocca, Carlo
Ferraresi, Virginia
Musicco, Felice
Pellacani, Giovanni
Marchetti, Paolo
author_sort Roberto, Michela
collection PubMed
description Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine cancer that usually affects the elderly and immunosuppressed in sun-exposed areas. Due to its rarity, it is frequently unrecognized, and its management is not standardized across medical centers, despite the more recent availability of immunotherapy, with avelumab as first-line treatment improving the prognosis even in advanced stages of disease. We conducted a purpose-designed survey of a selected sample of physicians working in the Lazio region, in Italy, to assess their awareness and knowledge of MCC as well as their perspective on assisted diagnostic and therapeutic pathways. The Lazio region, and in particular Rome, is one of the most important academic and non- academic center in Italy dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. A total of 368 doctors (including 100 general practitioners, 72 oncologists, 87 dermatologists, 59 surgeons, and 50 anatomopathologists) agreed to be part of this survey. Surgeons, oncologists, and dermatologists thought themselves significantly more updated on MCC than primary care physicians, but more than half of the interviewees are interested in CCM training courses and training with clearer and more standardized care pathways. Significant differences have been reported from survey participants in terms of multidisciplinary team set up for MCC management. The identification of specialized centers and the improvement of communication pathways among different specialties, as well as between patients and physicians, could be very beneficial in improving patients’ journey modeling and starting a uniform diagnostic and therapeutic pathway for MCC patients in the new era of immunotherapies.
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spelling pubmed-96006812022-10-27 A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway Roberto, Michela Botticelli, Andrea Caggiati, Alessio Chiriatti, Alberto Della Rocca, Carlo Ferraresi, Virginia Musicco, Felice Pellacani, Giovanni Marchetti, Paolo Curr Oncol Article Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine cancer that usually affects the elderly and immunosuppressed in sun-exposed areas. Due to its rarity, it is frequently unrecognized, and its management is not standardized across medical centers, despite the more recent availability of immunotherapy, with avelumab as first-line treatment improving the prognosis even in advanced stages of disease. We conducted a purpose-designed survey of a selected sample of physicians working in the Lazio region, in Italy, to assess their awareness and knowledge of MCC as well as their perspective on assisted diagnostic and therapeutic pathways. The Lazio region, and in particular Rome, is one of the most important academic and non- academic center in Italy dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. A total of 368 doctors (including 100 general practitioners, 72 oncologists, 87 dermatologists, 59 surgeons, and 50 anatomopathologists) agreed to be part of this survey. Surgeons, oncologists, and dermatologists thought themselves significantly more updated on MCC than primary care physicians, but more than half of the interviewees are interested in CCM training courses and training with clearer and more standardized care pathways. Significant differences have been reported from survey participants in terms of multidisciplinary team set up for MCC management. The identification of specialized centers and the improvement of communication pathways among different specialties, as well as between patients and physicians, could be very beneficial in improving patients’ journey modeling and starting a uniform diagnostic and therapeutic pathway for MCC patients in the new era of immunotherapies. MDPI 2022-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9600681/ /pubmed/36290847 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol29100570 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Roberto, Michela
Botticelli, Andrea
Caggiati, Alessio
Chiriatti, Alberto
Della Rocca, Carlo
Ferraresi, Virginia
Musicco, Felice
Pellacani, Giovanni
Marchetti, Paolo
A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title_full A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title_fullStr A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title_full_unstemmed A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title_short A Regional Survey on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Plea for Uniform Patient Journey Modeling and Diagnostic–Therapeutic Pathway
title_sort regional survey on merkel cell carcinoma: a plea for uniform patient journey modeling and diagnostic–therapeutic pathway
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9600681/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36290847
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol29100570
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