Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

Imiquimod 5% cream in the treatment of Bowen's disease and invasive squamous cell carcinoma.

Peris K, Micantonio T, Fargnoli MC, Lozzi GP, Chimenti S

Department of Dermatology, University of L'Aquila, Italy. peris@univaq.it

BACKGROUND: Imiquimod has been successfully used for treatment of various epithelial cutaneous neoplasms. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of imiquimod 5% cream for treatment of Bowen's disease and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients who were unsuitable candidates for surgery. METHOD: Five Bowen's disease lesions and 7 invasive SCC lesions on 10 patients were treated with imiquimod once daily 5 times a week for a maximum of 16 weeks. RESULTS: After 8 to 12 weeks of treatment, 4 of 5 Bowen's disease lesions (80%) and 5 of 7 invasive SCCs (71.4%) showed complete clinicopathologic regression. The remaining 3 lesions showed partial regression after 16 weeks of treatment. No recurrence has been detected after a follow-up period of 24 to 38 months (mean, 31 months). LIMITATIONS: The study is an open-label clinical trial on a small number of selected patients, with lack of excision with serial step sections. CONCLUSION: Topical application of imiquimod 5% cream might represent an alternative topical treatment to surgery in selected cases of Bowen's disease and invasive SCC.

Published 17 July 2006 in J Am Acad Dermatol, 55(2): 324-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Skin Cancer Research Today. All Rights Reserved.