{"title":"Surgery versus immunotherapy in locally advanced cutaneous carcinoma of the external ear: A multicenter study","authors":"Francesco Mattioli , Matteo Miglio , Margherita Basso , Giacomo Papi , Roberto Tonelli , Giulio Martinelli , Massimo Dominici , Daniele Marchioni , Roberta Depenni","doi":"10.1016/j.suronc.2025.102271","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background/objectives</h3><div>Immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for cutaneous carcinoma in locally advanced and advanced stages. This study aims to compare the survival outcomes between patients treated with surgery and those treated with cemiplimab. Secondly, we evaluated how adjuvant treatment, tumor stage, and margins status may influence the oncological outcomes in the surgical group.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The study included 77 patients with locally advanced cutaneous carcinoma of the external ear treated between 2015 and 2023 with surgery, either followed or not by adjuvant therapy, or treated with cemiplimab.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Immunotherapy demonstrated a benefit in the disease-specific survival both at 24 months (HR = 0.09, p = 0.02) and at 60 months (HR = 0.11, p = 0.04) when compared to patients treated by surgery, with an estimated 5-year survival of 80 % and 55.9 %, respectively (log-rank = 0.03). Conversely, surgery showed a more favorable trend for disease-free survival than cemiplimab (HR 0.58, p = 0.08), with a median survival of 25.6 and 14.2 months. Stage IV, compared to stage III, tended to have a worse survival rate when stratified by treatment strategy. The addition of adjuvant therapy improved median disease-specific survival from 12 to 40 months for stage IV. On the other hand, adjuvant radiotherapy did not significantly affect outcomes when stratified by margin status, especially when resection margins were clear (p = 0.36).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Cutaneous carcinoma of the external ear represents a rare entity, affecting elderly patients and still associated with high complication rates. Emerging therapeutic strategies, which may serve as alternatives to surgery, offer a basis for future adjustments of treatment algorithms for these neoplasms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51185,"journal":{"name":"Surgical Oncology-Oxford","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102271"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Surgical Oncology-Oxford","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960740425000866","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ONCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background/objectives
Immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for cutaneous carcinoma in locally advanced and advanced stages. This study aims to compare the survival outcomes between patients treated with surgery and those treated with cemiplimab. Secondly, we evaluated how adjuvant treatment, tumor stage, and margins status may influence the oncological outcomes in the surgical group.
Methods
The study included 77 patients with locally advanced cutaneous carcinoma of the external ear treated between 2015 and 2023 with surgery, either followed or not by adjuvant therapy, or treated with cemiplimab.
Results
Immunotherapy demonstrated a benefit in the disease-specific survival both at 24 months (HR = 0.09, p = 0.02) and at 60 months (HR = 0.11, p = 0.04) when compared to patients treated by surgery, with an estimated 5-year survival of 80 % and 55.9 %, respectively (log-rank = 0.03). Conversely, surgery showed a more favorable trend for disease-free survival than cemiplimab (HR 0.58, p = 0.08), with a median survival of 25.6 and 14.2 months. Stage IV, compared to stage III, tended to have a worse survival rate when stratified by treatment strategy. The addition of adjuvant therapy improved median disease-specific survival from 12 to 40 months for stage IV. On the other hand, adjuvant radiotherapy did not significantly affect outcomes when stratified by margin status, especially when resection margins were clear (p = 0.36).
Conclusions
Cutaneous carcinoma of the external ear represents a rare entity, affecting elderly patients and still associated with high complication rates. Emerging therapeutic strategies, which may serve as alternatives to surgery, offer a basis for future adjustments of treatment algorithms for these neoplasms.
期刊介绍:
Surgical Oncology is a peer reviewed journal publishing review articles that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in surgical oncology and related fields of interest. Articles represent a spectrum of current technology in oncology research as well as those concerning clinical trials, surgical technique, methods of investigation and patient evaluation. Surgical Oncology publishes comprehensive Reviews that examine individual topics in considerable detail, in addition to editorials and commentaries which focus on selected papers. The journal also publishes special issues which explore topics of interest to surgical oncologists in great detail - outlining recent advancements and providing readers with the most up to date information.