Abstract
Bowen’s disease (BD) is an intraepidermal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with a tendency for progressive growth and low invasive risk, characterized by slowly growing, erythematous plaque with an irregular border, surface scaling and crusting. The risk of progression to invasive SCC is 3–5 % for extragenital lesions and 10 % for genital lesions. BD is very common in the Caucasian population with an incidence of 14 per 100,000 in some populations. The peak age group for BD is the seventh decade. The ratio of Bowen’s disease is approximately equal between males and females. BD is more commonly found on the head and neck of men and on the lower limbs and cheeks of women. BD is usually a solitary lesion, but in 10–20 % of patients, it occurs at multiple sites.
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Abbreviations
- 5-FU:
-
5-Fluorouracil
- ALA:
-
5-Aminolevulinic acid
- BD:
-
Bowen’s disease
- HPV:
-
Human papillomavirus
- MAL:
-
Methyl aminolevulinate
- PDT:
-
Photodynamic therapy
- SCC:
-
Squamous cell carcinoma
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Situm, M. (2015). Bowen’s Disease. In: Katsambas, A.D., Lotti, T.M., Dessinioti, C., D’Erme, A.M. (eds) European Handbook of Dermatological Treatments. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45139-7_10
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