Oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia treated with the photodynamic therapy: a case report

About 60% of the oral cancer arise on a pre-existent potentially malignant disorder of oral mucosa like the oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia. The treatment with the photodynamic therapy of these lesions represents, in the last years, an innovative, non-invasive and effective therapeutic possibility to achieve the secondary prevention of oral cancer. In the last decade, case reports have described patients with similar treated through a photochemical reaction induced by laser light. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the topical 5-ALA photodynamic therapy in the treatment of a case of Oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia.

A female patient of 80 years old affected by white verrucous plaques on the right buccal mucosa was recruited for our case report. The right side lesion was treated with the photodynamic therapy with topical administered 5-aminolevulinic acid using the 635 nm laser light to activate the photosensitizer.

The lesion showed complete response after 4 sessions of photodynamic therapy and no recurrence was noticed after 12 months.

The photodynamic therapy can be considered an effective treatment in the management of oral verrucous proliferative leukoplakia, but more clinical trials, with prolonged follow-up controls, are necessary to evaluate its effectiveness in the mid and long time period.