title: Therapeutic options for treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma.
abstract: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare malignant neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin. Owing to the aggressiveness of this tumor and the bad overall survival, we reviewed the therapeutic strategies, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy to find out the potentially best treatment option for one patient treated at our hospital. In addition, we investigated MCC biopsies using the FLAVINO assay to find out if individual chemoresponse testing might be a useful supplement in decision-making for the optimal therapeutic option for our MCC patient. The different results achieved using cisplatin, docetaxel, and cetuximab led to the conclusion that an individual chemoresponse testing in a predictive short-time assay might potentially be a useful diagnostic tool in identifying potentially effective chemotherapy treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 10-14, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. kathrinnora.gessner@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gessner
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wichmann
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: Anett
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reiche
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bertolini
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brus
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sterker
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dietzsch
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dietz
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015266:Carcinoma, Merkel Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002945:Cisplatin
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