Topical photodynamic therapy may not be effective for actinic cheilitis despite repeated treatments

摘要

As actinic cheilitis (AC) is considered a premalignant condition, proper treatment is important. Several studies have reported that many AC lesions remain after 1-2 sessions of photodynamic therapy (PDT). Therefore, we performed repeated treatments with PDT to increase the efficacy of the modality. A total of 10 cases of AC diagnosed by skin biopsy were enrolled. Informed consent was obtained from patients before the biopsy. Methyl aminolevulinate (Metvix, Gal-derma, France) was applied to the lesion with an occlusive dressing. After 3 hours, the lesion was irradiated with 37 J/cm2 of red light (Aktilite CL 128, Galderma). Eight weeks after the treatment, if clinical complete response (CR) was observed, a skin biopsy was performed. If the patient refused a skin biopsy, we only evaluated the clinical status. When a residual AC lesion was observed, we performed repeated PDT at an interval of 2-4 weeks. 6 males and 4 females were enrolled in this study and their mean age was 71.1. The average number of treatments was 4.30 ± 1.89. Five of 10 (50.0%) patients showed CR with 2-4 sessions of PDT. The average number of treatments to CR was 4.60 ± 2.60. In 5 patients who showed CR, the lesion recurred in 2 patients at 10 and 45 months after the last treatment, respectively.