Treat Merkel Cell Carcinoma Stage IIIA

dledp
dledp Member Posts: 1

We are in Toronto Canada.My husband (55 years old) found a small lump (around 7mm) on his right calf in 2015 July. He went to family doc first time and didn't get any attention, then went to see doc again second time and was referred to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said nothing to worry it is a cyst and referred him to a plastic surgeon.Finally in Sep 2015 the surgeon removed the lump and also said it is a cyst. On Oct 17 he got a call from the surgeon's office, said he's transferred to hospital and had appt made on Nov 17. We didn't know what's wrong until Nov 17 we saw a group of doctors in the hospital. They told us it is MCC and arranged wide excision, CT scan.

He did wide excision on calf on Dec 03 and CT shows good results (it is not spread to the body). He then did sentenal lymph node biopsy on Jan 7 and they took out two nodes from groin area. The pathology report shows both nodes have MCC (size is 1mm). Both the surgeon and oncologist suggested him to do radiation in both groin area and the primary leision. He will do radiation in two weeks.

It looks like this is it for treatement. Is there more treatement possible for him to prevent the recurring? I see there is a serology test in UW to monitor the recurring of MCC, but the oncologist thinks it won't help. I also see new immunotherapy like keytrude and avelumab for MCC. Is there any MCC patients taking these and will it be helpful for my husband?

Thank you