Sáenz-Guirado S, Cuenca-Barrales C, Vega-Castillo J, et al. - Comparison of combined photodynamic therapy (PDT) (daylight PDT followed by conventional PDT) vs conventional PDT for actinic keratosis revealed equal effectiveness of both of these strategies in treating grade I and II AKs located on the scalp and face. Considerably more tolerability was evident for combined PDT than conventional PDT; the former caused only mild local skin reactions.

• In this randomized, single-center, non-inferiority clinical trial with two parallel groups, 51 patients with grade I and II AKs on the scalp or face were randomized to one session of combined PDT (combPDT) (n=25) or one session of conventional PDT (cPDT) (n=26).

• At 12 weeks post-treatment, similar reduction rate of grade I and II AKs was seen in combPDT and cPDT, demonstrating no statistically significant differences between both groups, 76.67% vs 86.63% and 80.48% vs 83.08%, respectively.

• However, the combPDT group experienced significantly lower pain as well as significantly lower local skin reactions.