Photodynamic therapy, an effective cure for Bowen's disease: Meta - analysis

CHINA: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is more effective than other options like 5-fluorouracil and cryotherapy for the treatment of Bowen's disease (BD) confirms a systematic review and meta‐analysis data published in Dermatology.

Photodynamic therapy is an established, first-line treatment option for Bowen's disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ.) an early and curable form of skin cancer. PDT involves light and a photosensitizing chemical substance, used in conjunction with molecular oxygen to elicit cell death.PDT is a powerful tool in the localized and selective treatment of dermatologic diseases. In recent years the off-label use of PDT has also escalated.

Xue W., the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, China, and colleagues conducted a study with the aim of systematically reviewing and meta-analyze data on the effectiveness of PDT in BD and further summarising the data from all randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Researchers extracted relevant trial data that met inclusion criteria after conducting a literature search from PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases, and meta-analyses of the data were performed using RevMan V.5.4. The Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tools was used to estimate the risk of bias. Complete response rate, recurrence, pain/visual analog scale score, cosmetic outcome, and adverse events were considered as outcomes. Of the 2,439 records initially retrieved, 8 randomized controlled trials were included in this meta-analysis.