title: Merkel cell carcinoma after chronic lymphocytic leukemia: case report and literature review.
abstract: Increasing evidence supports an association of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) with immunodeficiency and neoplasia, and the management and outcome of these patients requires study. This report describes a 72-year-old man with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who developed MCC of his right upper extremity and died of bone marrow metastases at 8 months. In the five previously reported cases of MCC after CLL, a shorter time interval between the diagnosis of CLL and the onset of MCC was associated with a better prognosis. In contrast, in this case the near simultaneous onset of CLL and MCC was followed by a rapid, lethal outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Unity Health System, Rochester, New York 14611, USA.
authors.forename: Roxana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vlad
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Woodlock
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019046:Bone Marrow Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D015266:Carcinoma, Merkel Cell / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology