Increasing the Effect of Photodynamic Therapy on Basocellular Carcinoma by Synchronic Application of Pulsed Dye Laser

Abstract

For being the most frequent malignity, basocellular carcinoma represents a significant medical, psychological and economic problem, despite its very rare destructive growth and metastases. In particular, success of present therapy of relapsing basaliomas is very low (and decreases to 50%) and it is therefore necessary to search for new methods for increased efficiency with simultaneous esthetic results of treatment (85% of basaliomas are in the head and neck region). Photodynamic therapy is based on activation of a photosensitization agent belongs to most successful possibilities, but fails in up to 4% of primary superficial basaliomas; in nodular and relapsing ones in the generally not recommended. The objective of the study is to improve efficiency of the method by activation of photodynamic therapy by pulsed dye laser, which also exerts a photoselective effect (destroys nutritive vessels). In a study performed in 128 basaliomas with a high proportion of relapsing, laboriously treated ones, a statistically significant high efficiency of activation of aminolevulinic acid with pulsed dye laser has been confirmed as compared with the conventional red light. The efficiency was 89.4% versus 71.9% in favor of the laser.

Keywords

• basaliomas
• photodynamic therapy
• aminolevulinic acid
• pulsed dye laser