Primary prevention of skin dysplasia in renal transplant recipients with photodynamic therapy: a randomized controlled trial

K Togsverd-Bo, S H Omland, H C Wulf, S S Sørensen, M Haedersdal

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Organ transplant recipients (OTRs) are at high risk of developing cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); prevention includes early treatment of premalignant actinic keratosis (AK). Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a noninvasive field therapy that reduces new AKs in patients with existing AK and delays SCC development in mice. We investigated the effect of repeated PDT over 5 years for primary prophylaxis of skin dysplasia. These data represent an interim analysis of an on-going randomized controlled trial. During 2008-2011, 25 renal transplant recipients with clinically normal skin were randomized to split-side PDT of the face, forearm and hand, the contralateral side serving as untreated control. Patients received PDT on inclusion and at 6-monthly intervals for 5 years. Blinded evaluation was performed at each visit. We found that prophylactic PDT significantly delayed onset of AK compared with untreated skin, p-=-0.020. At 3-year follow-up, we observed AK in 63% of patients in untreated skin areas compared with 28% of patients in PDT-treated skin, with a total number of cumulated AKs in untreated skin (n-=-43) compared with PDT-treated skin (n-=-8), p-=-0.005. These preliminary data indicate a novel approach to early prevention of skin dysplasia that may reduce morbidity from multiple AKs and SCCs in OTR. The authors show in an interim analysis of a randomized controlled trial that prophylactic photodynamic therapy twice a year for five years prevents the onset of skin dysplasia compared to untreated control renal transplant recipients.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Journal of Transplantation
Volume15
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)2986-90
Number of pages5
ISSN1600-6135
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2015

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