RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Actinic keratosis (AK), which frequently affects larger skin areas (field cancerization), is characterized by chronic course. Weighing therapy-specific advantages and disadvantages of field-oriented therapy for individual patients is challenging. OBJECTIVES: The main objective was the development of patient-oriented decision criteria for the pragmatic classification of field-directed AK treatment options in patients with a predisposition for field cancerization (patient types 1-3). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The development of the decision criteria and patient typology was based on a nominal respectively structured multilevel group process. The developed algorithm was then subsequently applied for the systematic evaluation of field-directed AK therapies. RESULTS: Patient-relevant criteria for the treatment decision included (among others): effectiveness, selectivity, safety, duration of therapy, cosmesis, patient preference and comorbidities. With regard to the decision criteria and patient types in which field therapy was the treatment of choice, daylight photodynamic therapy notably met the requirement profile. CONCLUSION: The definition of patient-relevant and therapy-related decision criteria in AK field therapy allows a systematic yet practice-oriented approach to classify specific treatment options and to derive individual treatment decisions.
