Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) to treat a chronic skin wound in a dog

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is an emerging and promising therapeutic modality for treatment of a wide variety of malignant and nononcologic tumors, as well as in the treatment of infected skin ulcers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the PDT to treat a chronic skin wound that had been already subjected to several clinical and surgical type treatments in a dog. The animal with an infected chronic skin wound with 8 cm diameter in the left leg received an injection of an aqueous solution of 1% methylene blue (MB) with 2% lidocaine into the lesion. After MB injection the wound was irradiated using a LED (LED-VET MMOptics(R)) with a wavelength between 600 and 700 nm, 2 cm diameter circular light beam, of 150 mW of power, light dose of 50 j/cm(2). After 3 and 6 weeks PDT was repeated and the wound was re-evaluated. Complete healing was achieved 10 weeks after the first procedure.