ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a good option for the treatment of Bowen's disease (BD). However, BD occasionally can progress into a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) after PDT. OBJECTIVE: Find predictors of aggressiveness of BD after PDT METHODS: Two biopsies of patients with BD treated with PDT with progression to SCC within three months were selected for immunohistochemical (IHC) studies. Conventional PDT was applied. IHC analysis was performed together with hematoxylin-eosin in the biopsies prior to and after treatment with PDT. RESULTS: Among the IHC markers studied, none showed different expressions between pre-treatment and post-treatment biopsies except for HSP70 CONCLUSIONS: The expression of Hsp70 in BD may predict future aggressive behaviour in BD when treated with PDT. Nevertheless, due to the small number of biopsies studied, further investigations are required to draw conclusions.
