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

<b><i>Background:</i></b> 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. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> 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. <b><i>Results:</i></b> 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>I</i>² = 86%, <i>p</i> = 0.04), less recurrence (RR = 0.53, 95% CI [0.30, 0.95], <i>I</i>² = 0%, <i>p</i> = 0.03), and better cosmetic outcome (RR = 1.34, 95% CI [1.15, 1.56], <i>I</i>² = 0%, <i>p</i> = 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>I</i>² = 0%, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 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>I</i>² = 0%, <i>p</i> = 0.0005) and a lower visual analogue scale score (RR = 0.51, 95% CI [0.06, 0.96], <i>I</i>² = 0%, <i>p</i> = 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>I</i>² not applicable, <i>p</i> = 1.00). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> 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.