title: The efficacy of photodynamic therapy in treatment of recurrent squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A number of investigations have already been carried out to assess the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on primary basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) lesions, but lack of investigations on recurrent lesions or lesions with treatment failure, prompted the authors to carry out this study. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of photodynamic therapy on recurrent BCC and SCC lesions on head and neck skin.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 30 patients, including 16 men and 14 women, were selected from patients with recurrent SCC and BCC who referred to Iran university ENT research center Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Tehran-Iran, met the criteria and entered the study. This is a longitudinal study of 30 patients with 43 histologically verified head and neck skin tumors, candidate for photodynamic therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To cite the results obtained in this study, it is worth mention that five cases expressed disagreement with this treatment modality after the first session of illumination; the treatment was stopped because of pain or burning. In a three-month evaluation, complete treatment response rates were obtained in 72% of patients (18 cases); in SCC cases it was 71.4% (10 cases) and in BCC it was 72.7% (eight cases). The final result of complete response rate in three years of follow up, demonstrated that 16 (64%) patients out of 25 were disease-free from recurrent BCC and SCC (Table 1). In BCC cases the final three-year response rate was seven (63.6%) and in SCC cases it was nine (64.2%). Hence, there was no statistical difference between SCC and BCC cases to treatment (P = 0.34).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The obtained data from the current study is supportive of the recommended treatment method of PDT as an effective, tolerable and less invasive treatment in patients with recurrent BCC and SCC carcinomas, particularly when cosmetic effects are an important consideration. However, more research is needed to establish this.
authors.affiliation: ENT.HNS Research Center, Rasool Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farhadi
authors.forename: Seyed Kamran
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kamrava
authors.forename: Ashkan Heshmatzade
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Behzadi
authors.forename: Parviz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rafiezadeh
authors.forename: Alimohamad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asghari
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rezvan
authors.forename: Shayan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maleki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*