The Use of Microneedles to Expedite Treatment Time in Photodynamic Therapy

The current standard of care of photodynamic therapy to treat actinic keratoses includes pre-treatment of the area with topical aminolevulinic acid for 1 hour, followed by treatment with blue light. In a previous study, the investigators showed pretreatment of microneedles enhance penetration of topical aminolevulinic acid as compared to the control group. The aim of this study is to investigate how varying incubation periods of topical aminolevulinic acid after pretreatment with microneedle application can facilitate the penetration and efficacy of photodynamic therapy.