Clinical Experiences of Photodynamic Therapy in the Extramammary Paget's Disease

Chang, Hang Wook; Baek, Seung Chul; Byun, Dae Gyoo; Houh, Dong

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy(PDT) is a kind of non-invasive photochemotherapy, which is designed to kill the target cells through photodynamic reaction. It has been reported that PDT is very effective in superficial lesions, including extramammary Paget's disease. Yet, there has been no clinical trial for the treatment of extramammary Paget's disease using PDT in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of PDT in treating extramammary Paget's disease METHOD: Seven patients with anogenital extramammary Paget's disease were treated repeatedly with local PDT using topical ALA 20% and intralesional injection of hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD), and systemic PDT using HpD. Fluences of 125-200J/cm2 and intensities of 50-100mW/cm2 were used. RESULT: The clinical outcomes were disappointing. All the patients experienced only partial responses despite repeated treatments. But side effects were minimal.
CONCLUSION
PDT is not effective enough for the treatment of extramammary Paget's disease to be used as a primary therapy. It would be better to use as an adjuvant to other treatment methods. Photodynamic sensitization, also known as photodynamic diagnosis, might help us define a more reliable border of the extent involved and the surgical margin to be excised.