title: Photodynamic therapy with ablative carbon dioxide fractional laser for treating Bowen disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been increasingly used to treat malignant skin tumors including the Bowen disease. However, patients could be displeased with the long incubation time required for conventional PDT.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the efficacy and safety of PDT with a short incubation time of ablative CO2 fractional laser pretreatment for treating Bowen disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients were included. Just before applying the topical photosensitizer, all lesions were treated with ablative CO2 fractional laser, following the application of methyl aminolevulinate and irradiation with red light (Aktilite CL 128). Histological confirmation, rebiopsy, and clinical assessments were performed. Adverse events were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five of the ten (50%) lesions showed a complete response (CR) within three PDT sessions. After four treatment sessions, all lesions except one penile shaft lesion (90%) achieved clinical and histological CR or clinical CR only. The average number of treatments to CR was 3.70±1.70. The treatments showed favorable cosmetic outcomes and no serious adverse events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that pretreatment with an ablative fractional CO2 laser before PDT has similar treatment efficacy and requires a shorter photosensitizer incubation time compared with the conventional PDT method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sue Kyung
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ji-Youn
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hyo Sang
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: You-Sun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: You Chan
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Ablative carbon dioxide fractional laser; Bowen disease; Photodynamic therapy; Pretreatment