The impact of delay in time to surgical treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma on overall survival and A population-based analysis

To the Editor: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer with a 5-year survival rate of 51% for local disease and 14% for distant disease.1 Although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines highlight the importance of prompt radiation therapy, there are no guidelines for surgical treatment times. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine whether delays between MCC diagnosis and surgical treatment are associated with overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) differences.