New proposal for the treatment of viral warts with intralesional injection of 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy

Abstract

Background: Although photodynamic therapy (PDT) using intralesional injection (ILI) can theoretically enhance the efficacy of the PDT, the effect of ILI-PDT on warts has not been reported in the literature so far. Methods: Eight patients with multiple viral warts were enrolled in the study. PDT was performed after the incubation for 1 h, followed by the ILI of aminolevulinic acid (ALA) into the warts. The treatment was repeated at 2–3 week intervals. Results: Fifty percent of patients showed good to cure response. Complete remission was observed in two patients. There was no apparent correlation between the initial severity of warts and the likelihood of response. No one reported severe adverse reaction. Conclusions: The present study suggests that intralesional administration of ALA might be a safe and effective treatment option of thick treatment-resistant warts and can be performed with a shorter incubation period.

Key words::

• intralesional injection
• viral warts
• 5-aminolevulinic acid
• photodynamic therapy

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the SRC/ERC program of MOST/KOSEF (R11-2005-017-05003-0) and basic research program through the NRF funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0002431).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.