Methyl-aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy for the treatment of actinic cheilitis: a retrospective evaluation of 29 patients.

AIM

Multiple treatment modalities have been proposed for actinic cheilitis (AC), and topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) has recently been included among these modalities. We report our experience with PDT using methyl-aminolevulinate (MAL) in AC.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective analysis of 29 patients who had undergone MAL-PDT for treatment of AC: 4 patients received one single session and 25 patients two consecutive weekly sessions.

RESULTS

At 3 months, 21 patients (72%) obtained a complete clinical response, which was sustained over a follow-up period of 6-36 months (mean, 20 months) in 20 patients. Cosmetic outcome was generally rated as good or very good. Transient local adverse events related to the procedure were common and mild to moderate in the majority of cases.

CONCLUSION

Our preliminary experience suggests that MAL-PDT may be considered a valid modality for the treatment of AC, although long-term follow-up studies in large patient series are required to obtain precise data about clinical and histological recurrences.