Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Bowen's Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Photodynamic therapy is an established treatment option for Bowen's disease. Our meta-analysis was aimed at evaluating the efficacy and recurrence of photodynamic therapy or other topical treatments (5-fluorouracil, cryotherapy) and of photodynamic therapy alone or in combination with other therapies (ablative fractional CO2 laser or plum-blossom needle) for the treatment of Bowen's disease. Methods: Trials that met our inclusion criteria were identified from PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases, and meta-analyses were conducted with RevMan V.5.4. The risk of bias was estimated with the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tools. Complete response rate, recurrence, pain/visual analogue scale score, cosmetic outcome, and adverse events were considered as outcomes. Results: Of the 2,439 records initially retrieved, 8 randomized controlled trials were included in this meta-analysis. According to our analyses, photodynamic therapy exhibited a significantly higher complete response rate (RR = 1.36, 95% CI [1.01, 1.84], I-2 = 86%, p = 0.04), less recurrence (RR = 0.53, 95% CI [0.30, 0.95], I-2 = 0%, p = 0.03), and better cosmetic outcome (RR = 1.34, 95% CI [1.15, 1.56], I-2 = 0%, p = 0.0002) compared with other treatments. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the complete response rate of photodynamic therapy combined with ablative fractional CO2 laser and that of photodynamic therapy (RR = 1.85, 95% CI [1.38, 2.49], I-2 = 0%, p < 0.0001). Photodynamic therapy combined with ablative fractional CO2 laser or plum-blossom needle also showed significantly less recurrence (RR = 0.21, 95% CI [0.09, 0.51], I-2 = 0%, p = 0.0005) and a lower visual analogue scale score (RR = 0.51, 95% CI [0.06, 0.96], I-2 = 0%, p = 0.03) than photodynamic therapy alone. However, there was no significant difference in the complete response rate between photodynamic therapy combined with ablative continuous CO2 laser and photodynamic therapy combined with ablative fractional CO2 laser (RR = 1.00, 95% CI [0.54, 1.86], I-2 not applicable, p = 1.00). Conclusions: This meta-analysis shows that photodynamic therapy can be used in the treatment of Bowen's disease with better efficacy, less recurrence, and better cosmetic outcomes than cryotherapy and 5-FU. Some methods, including ablative fractional CO2 laser, can be applied in combination with photodynamic therapy to improve efficacy. However, which laser-assisted photodynamic therapy scheme has the most advantages in the treatment of Bowen's disease warrants further exploration. (c) 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel.