Enhancement of Photodynamic Therapy for Bowen's Disease Using Plum-Blossom Needling to Augment Drug Delivery

BACKGROUND Bowen's disease (BD) is treated effectively with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT). Plum-blossom needling (PBN) may enhance topical drug delivery. OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of and adverse reactions to PBN and ALA-PDT of BD with those associated with ALA-PDT alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-three lesions from 24 patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups. The PBN-ALA-PDT group underwent vertical skin tapping with PBN before applying 10% ALA cream and narrow-band light-emitting diode irradiation (λ = 633 ± 10 nm; 100–200 J/cm2). The ALA-PDT group received ALA cream and irradiation only. RESULTS At 6 weeks, the PBN-ALA-PDT and ALA-PDT groups achieved complete response (CR) rates of 77.78% (14/18 lesions) and 40% (7/20 lesions), respectively, (p

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