Photodynamic therapy combined with surgery versus Mohs micrographic surgery for the treatment of difficult-to-treat basal cell carcinoma: a retrospective clinical study

Abstract

Background

Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is the preferable surgery for difficult -to-treat basal cell carcinoma (BCC) but is an expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming technique. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of photodynamic therapy combined with surgery(S-PDT) versus Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) for the treatment of difficult-to-treat BCC.

Methods

This was a retrospective, comparative study. A total of 32 patients, 16 patients with 48 lesions, were treated with S-PDT, and the other 16 patients with 17 lesions treated by MMS were enrolled in this study. Follow-up was at least 36 months posttreatment.

Results

The recurrence rate was no statistical difference between the S-PDT and MMS (p = 1.000, Fishers exact test). The median follow-up was 42.5 months (range 36–63 months). The mean healing time in the S-PDT [17.9 d (SD 9.8)] is longer than in MMS [7.5 d (SD 1.5)] during follow-up (p＜.001, Independent T-test). On the whole, the cosmetic outcome of patients in S-PDT was statistically no significant difference with that in MMS according to a 4-point scale (p = .719, chi-squared test).

Conclusions

S-PDT is a safe, effective, and novel cosmetic treatment, which holds the potential to be an alternative treatment to MMS for some cases.

Keywords:

• Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC)
• photodynamic therapy (PDT)
• Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS)
• treatment outcome

Acknowledgements

The patients in this manuscript have given written informed consent to publication of their case details.

Ethical approval

The trial was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Xiangya Hospital of Central South University and institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College.

Consent form

Not applicable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The works are supported by the Clinical research Fund of National Clinical Medical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University [2021LNJJ07], the Huxiang Youth Talent support Foundation of China [2020RC3059], and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant numbers: 81673046].