ALA/ XXXX in the treatment of actinic keratosis: spot versus confluent therapy.

@entity1 @entity4906 @entity2517 @entity8454 @entity1487
BACKGROUND: @entity2517 ( @entity2517 ) represents commonly occurring, atypical keratinocytic proliferations confined to the epidermis. While it is the standard of care to destroy @entity2517 , few advances have been made to the traditional approaches of physical ablation (e.g. cryosurgery, curettage) and chemotherapeutics (e.g. topical @entity1487 ). The recent advances in photodynamic therapy ( @entity4906 ) with 20% @entity8454 (ALA) offer a novel, safe, and effective approach to @entity2517 therapy. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 20% ALA solution and blue light for the treatment of multiple facial @entity2517 . @entity1 /METHODS: A total of 32 @entity1 were offered either partial treatment (i.e. individual target lesions treated) or confluent treatment (i.e. entire region treated). At 15-20 hours after ALA solution application, treated areas were exposed to visible blue light for 16 minutes and 40 seconds. RESULTS: ALA/ @entity4906 treatment resulted in a rapid resolution of multiple @entity2517 lesions with a limited period of associated photosensitivity. Side effects experienced by individual @entity1 were found to be influenced by a number of factors: use of analgesic and topical anesthetic agents, body region treated, partial versus confluent treatment, and light exposure time. CONCLUSION: Twenty per cent ALA/ @entity4906 offers a safe, effective, and cost-efficient means of managing multiple @entity2517 lesions per treatment session with a low recurrence rate. In addition to a favorable tolerability profile, most @entity1 also achieved an improvement in skin texture.
