Efficacy and Tolerability Higher With Indoor-Daylight Photodynamic Therapy Than Conventional PDT for Treating Multiple Actinic Keratosis

Indoor-daylight photodynamic therapy (idlPDT) reduces the total number and area of actinic keratoses (AKs) and is less painful than conventional photodynamic therapy (cPDT), making it a potential alternative for in-office treatment of AKs.

“This is a not-inferiority study to compare treatment outcomes of cPDT with a red LED lamp and idlPDT with a polychromatic white LED lamp in adult patients affected by symmetrical AKs of face and/or scalp,” explained the study authors.

Researchers performed a comparative, intra-patient, split-face, randomized clinical trial with 43 enrolled adult patients. AKs were treated with either cPDT or idlPDT, and the AKs number and cumulative area were assessed at baseline and 3 months after treatment.

Both idlPDT and cPDT significantly reduced the total AKs number and area, but cPDT was more painful and induced more severe inflammation. A total of 70.7% of patients reported an overall preference to idlPDT over cPDT.

“idlPDT may represent an alternative treatment protocol to cPDT for in-office treatment of AKs patients with better tolerability and a not inferior efficacy,” concluded the study authors.

Reference
Arisi M, Rossi MT, Spiazzi L, et al. A randomized split-face clinical trial of conventional vs indoor-daylight photodynamic therapy for the treatment of multiple actinic keratosis of the face and scalp and photoaging. J Dermatolog Treat. Published June 28, 2021. doi:10.1080/09546634.2021.1944594