RESUMEN
Cancer is a main cause of death and preferred methods of therapy depend on the type of tumor and its location. Gliomas are the most common primary intracranial tumor, accounting for 81% of malignant brain tumors. Although relatively rare, they cause significant mortality. Traditional methods include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy; they also have significant associated side effects that cause difficulties related to tumor excision and recurrence. Photodynamic therapy has potentially fewer side effects, less toxicity, and is a more selective treatment, and is thus attracting increasing interest as an advanced therapeutic strategy. Photodynamic treatment of malignant glioma is considered to be a promising additional therapeutic option that is currently being extensively investigated in vitro and in vivo. This review describes the application of photodynamic therapy for treatment of brain cancer. The mechanism of photodynamic action is also described in this work as it applies to treatment of brain cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme. The pros and cons of photodynamic therapy for brain cancer are also discussed.
RESUMEN
Primary cutaneous amyloidosis (PCA) is characterized by the extracellular deposition of amyloid in the skin without systemic involvement. It comprises several clinical variants, the most common of which are macular amyloidosis (MA) and lichen amyloidosis (LA). PCA is frequently observed in Asians, while it is considered to be very rare in Caucasians. In the latter population, the condition often poses a diagnostic challenge. Dermoscopy has already been proved to be a useful, non-invasive diagnostic tool in various non-neoplastic skin diseases. In the paper, we present three Caucasian patients (skin phototypes I-II) with histologically confirmed LA. Under dermoscopy, central white hubs with grayish-brown dots and globules were observed in all three cases. Vascular structures were present in two cases and had the morphology of red globules and thick, unfocused branching lines intersecting the white hubs. A comprehensive review of the literature retrieved twelve papers presenting the dermoscopic features of PCA, including five articles on the dermoscopy of LA. The vast majority of these studies have been conducted on the Asian population, and there is a lack of data on the dermoscopic findings for patients with skin type I or II. The literature review revealed that MA and LA share several dermoscopic similarities (the presence of a white central hub and grayish dots), but also display distinct features. Compared to the dermoscopic features of LA in darker skin phototypes, our patients presented less pronounced pigmentation and more evident vascular structures. Nevertheless, further studies are needed in order to reliably evaluate the dermoscopic features of PCA in various ethnicities.
