Mohs micrographic surgery of Merkel cell carcinoma lowers local recurrence risk and has similar metastasis and survival compared with conventional excision: A single-center retrospective cohort study

Stephanie K Lin; Annika M Deitermann; Christopher J Miller; Kaley Ricciardelli; Medha Sharma; Dylan Haynes; Brian Cheng; Parnaz Daneshpajouhnejad; Karla Valdes-Morales; Mara D Trifoi; Daniella Frankel; Jeremy R Etzkorn; Mitul Modi; Joseph F Sobanko; Cerrene N Giordano; Joanna L Walker; Junqian Zhang; Harrison P Nguyen; Daniel J Lewis; H William Higgins 2nd

doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2025.10.046

Mohs micrographic surgery of Merkel cell carcinoma lowers local recurrence risk and has similar metastasis and survival compared with conventional excision: A single-center retrospective cohort study

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2026 Feb;94(2):675-678. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2025.10.046. Epub 2025 Oct 17.

Authors

Stephanie K Lin¹, Annika M Deitermann², Christopher J Miller³, Kaley Ricciardelli⁴, Medha Sharma⁴, Dylan Haynes³, Brian Cheng⁵, Parnaz Daneshpajouhnejad⁶, Karla Valdes-Morales³, Mara D Trifoi⁷, Daniella Frankel⁸, Jeremy R Etzkorn³, Mitul Modi⁶, Joseph F Sobanko³, Cerrene N Giordano³, Joanna L Walker³, Junqian Zhang³, Harrison P Nguyen³, Daniel J Lewis³, H William Higgins 2nd⁹

Affiliations

¹ Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New Hyde Park, New York; Department of Dermatology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
² University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
³ Department of Dermatology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
⁴ Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
⁵ University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina.
⁶ Department of Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
⁷ Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
⁸ University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
⁹ Department of Dermatology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: William.Higgins@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

PMID: 41109445
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2025.10.046

No abstract available

Keywords: Merkel cell cancer; Merkel cell carcinoma; Mohs micrographic surgery; Mohs surgery; conventional excision; excision; metastasis; recurrence; relapse; surgery; surgical outcomes; survival analysis; wide local excision.