title: Photodynamic therapy combined with cryotherapy for the treatment of nodular basal cell carcinoma.
abstract: Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser ablation in combination with photodynamic therapy (PDT) has previously been successfully used to treat superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC). However, the efficacy of this treatment modality is limited in the treatment of deeper lesions and the more aggressive subtypes of BCC. In order to improve the outcome of PDT, 8 BCC lesions of variable depths (4 lesions ≤2 mm and 4 lesions >2 mm) and subtypes (1 superficial, 6 nodular and 1 infiltrative) were treated with CO2laser ablation in combination with PDT, followed by modified cryotherapy. The mean number of treatment sessions was 1.5 and the follow-up period was 22 months. All of the patients demonstrated a complete response and no recurrence of disease, while the majority of patients were satisfied with the cosmetic results upon follow-up examination. The combination therapy of CO2laser ablation with PDT followed by modified cryotherapy demonstrated a good efficacy and satisfactory cosmetic outcomes in the treatment of nodular BCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Dongsan-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu 700-712, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Ae
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyu Suk
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae-We
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: basal cell carcinoma; carbon dioxide laser; cryotherapy; photodynamic therapy