Clinical experience of imiquimod 3.75% for actinic keratosis: results from a case series.

BACKGROUND

In clinical studies, imiquimod 3.75% was shown to detect and treat actinic keratosis (AK) lesions across an entire sun-exposed field such as the full face or balding scalp. The aim of this study was to evaluate imiquimod 3.75% in a real-life clinical setting.

METHODS

Ten AK patients applied imiquimod 3.75% to the full face or scalp once-daily in two 2-week treatment cycles separated by a two-week treatment-free interval and were followed-up eight weeks later. Seven patients rated imiquimod 3.75% versus prior treatments (cryotherapy, photodynamic therapy, diclofenac sodium 3%, imiquimod 5%, ingenol mebutate).

RESULTS

The median clinical lesion count at baseline was 12.5. This increased to a median Lmax (maximum lesion count during treatment) of 22.5 as imiquimod 3.75% unmasked previously invisible subclinical lesions. At final follow-up, the median lesion count was 0. Local skin reactions such as erythema, scabbing and erosion occurred during each treatment cycle and were easy to manage. All patients considered imiquimod 3.75% easier to apply than prior treatments and 5 reported fewer or similar side effects.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort, imiquimod 3.75% effectively cleared clinical and subclinical lesions across the entire affected field and was well tolerated.