Meta analysis of the efficacy of photodynamic therapy on oral lichen planus

LIU De-fu; LIU Ting; SONG Ju-kun; ZHANG Ling-yan; CAI Yang

doi:10.19538/j.kq.2023.06.008

Abstract：Objective To analyse the clinical efficacy of photodynamic therapy(PDT)in the treatment of oral lichen pla-nus(OLP).Methods A computer search was conducted in the Cochrane Library,PubMed,Embase,CNKI,Wanfang database,and China Biomedical Literature Database to find prospective cohort studies and randomised controlled trials(RCTs)of PDT in the treatment of OLP;the retrieval time is from the database establishment to August 30,2022.Meta analysis was applied to analyse the efficacy of PDT with methylene blue(MB)and 5-aminolevulinic acid(5-ALA)as pho-tosensitizers on OLP,and to compare the effect of PDT with that of steroid hormones in the treatment of OLP.Results A total of 19 papers,including 11 prospective cohort studies and 8 RCTs,were included.Meta analysis revealed that the patients'visual analogu scale(VAS)scores,Thongprasom sign scoring(TH),and lesion areas were all smaller in the pa-tients after treatment with PDT,using MB as a photosensitising agent;the VAS scores and lesion areas of patients treated with PDT with 5-ALA as photosensitiser were also smaller than before treatment;there were statistically significant dif-ferences(all P＜0.05).The results of subgroup analysis of the two groups showed that the VAS scores of patients treated with PDT with 5-ALA as photosensitiser were small-er than those treated with PDT with MB as photosen-sitiser,with statistically significant differences(SMD=2.78,95％CI:1.70-3.87,P=0.003).Analysis of eight RCTs found that the differences in patients'VAS scores,TH scores,lesion area,and treatment efficacy after treatment were not statistically significant when PDT treatment was compared with steroid hor-mone treatment(all P＞0.05).Conclusion The efficacy of PDT in the treatment of OLP is reliable,and it can be used as a replacement and auxiliary therapy for hormones.