2010 Volume 120 Issue 2 Pages 207-217
A surgical resection continues to be the basic treatment for skin cancer, but, as the numbers of elderly patients and patients with complications have increased, the numbers of cases that are not ideal candidates for surgery have also been increasing. In 2006, we adopted topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) using 5- aminolevulinic acid as one type of noninvasive treatment that can be performed on such patients. We herein report that we performed PDT using pulsed dye laser with a skin-cooling device on 7 cases of extramammary Pagetʼs disease with good results. These results were evaluated by clinical findings, photodynamic diagnoses, and skin biopsies;the results included CR in 2 cases and PR in 5 cases. Three of the PR cases were resolved or substantially ameliorated by surgical resections that were possible with local anesthesia due to reductions in the size of the lesions. Such reductions in the sizes of the lesions were observed in all of the cases. Although it is therefore necessary to be careful when selecting candidates, however, PDT is nevertheless considered to be a useful treatment for patients with extramammary Pagetʼs disease.