Dermatology and Skin Cancer Unit, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, IRCCS, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Dermatology. 2012;225(3):264-70. doi: 10.1159/000345106. Epub 2012 Dec 13.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) represents an optimal treatment for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a noninvasive imaging tool that has been applied in skin oncology and for BCC diagnosis. Moreover, RCM is a useful tool to determine noninvasive treatment efficacy of nonmelanoma skin cancer.
We aimed to investigate the role of RCM in assessing the efficacy of PDT in the treatment of BCC and to evaluate the skin changes following the PDT.
Ten patients with 12 BCCs were treated with PDT. Dermoscopy and RCM imaging were performed at baseline as well as 7 days (T1), 30 days and 18 months after PDT. Cytological examination was taken at baseline and in case of BCC persistence.
At T1, RCM showed the presence of several dendritic-shaped cells within the epidermis, corresponding to activated Langerhans cells. After 1 month, RCM showed the persistence of 2 BCCs, which escaped the clinical and dermoscopic diagnosis. At the long-term follow-up, none of the tumors revealed signs of persistence or recurrence.
RCM is a valuable noninvasive tool for the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of BCC using PDT.
光动力疗法（PDT）是基底细胞癌（BCC）的最佳治疗方法。反射共聚焦显微镜（RCM）是一种非侵入性成像工具，已应用于皮肤肿瘤学和 BCC 诊断。此外，RCM 是确定非黑素瘤皮肤癌非侵入性治疗效果的有用工具。
我们旨在研究 RCM 在评估 PDT 治疗 BCC 中的疗效以及评估 PDT 后皮肤变化中的作用。
10 例 12 例 BCC 患者接受 PDT 治疗。在 PDT 前、治疗后 7 天（T1）、30 天和 18 个月进行皮肤镜和 RCM 成像。在基线和 BCC 持续存在的情况下进行细胞学检查。
在 T1，RCM 显示表皮内存在几个树枝状细胞，对应于活化的朗格汉斯细胞。1 个月后，RCM 显示 2 例 BCC 持续存在，这些 BCC 逃脱了临床和皮肤镜诊断。在长期随访中，没有肿瘤显示出持续或复发的迹象。
RCM 是一种有价值的非侵入性工具，可用于 PDT 诊断和治疗监测 BCC。
