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Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Merkel cell carcinoma (Trabecular carcinoma) is a rare malignant tumor of the skin. Because these tumors tend to spread locally via the lymphatic system, very few papers have dealt with the treatment of distant metastasis. Systemic disease is uncommon and usually fatal. In this paper, we report a case of Merkel cell carcinoma with proven brain metastasis and a solid choroidal tumor. The patient responded well to radiation and chemotherapy and is alive and neurologically intact three years after diagnosis. All previous patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma to the brain died within two months of the diagnosis. We use this case to discuss possible routes of metastatic dissemination and to review the treatment options in patients with distant metastatic disease. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of presumed choroidal metastasis of Merkel cell carcinoma and the longest documented survival in a patient with brain involvement.
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PMID:Merkel cell carcinoma. Long term survival in a patient with proven brain metastasis and presumed choroid metastasis. 255 91

We studied the clinical aspects of 30 cases of trabecular carcinoma of the skin. Twenty-three patients were followed up for more than one year. Trabecular carcinoma of the skin is often misdiagnosed as a metastatic malignant tumor. The average age at the time of diagnosis was 68 years; most tumors occurred during the seventh and eighth decades of life. Most initial lesions were located in the head, neck, and upper extremities. Lymph node metastases developed in 13 patients, three of whom eventually died of the disease. Local recurrence developed in ten patients, four of whom died of metastatic trabecular carcinoma. The overall mortality was five of the 30 patients. Three of the patients in whom generalized metastases developed also suffered from some other severe systemic disorder. Nearly half of the 23 patients are free of disease. Sweat gland differentiation was observed in two cases, which indicates that the cell of origin is a multipotential unit capable of both neuroendocrine and sudoriferous differentiation.
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PMID:Trabecular carcinoma of the skin: further clinicopathologic and morphologic study. 689 31