Patients undergoing treatment are injected with the drug Photofrin, a synthetic blood product that is dispersed throughout the body and adheres to any cancerous cells. Approximately forty hours after IV administration, a fiber-optic probe is inserted where a physician directs low-energy, non-thermal red laser light directly on the tumor. As the drug and the red laser beam interact in the cancer cells, they are destroyed by a chemical reaction. The tumor and the remaining Photofrin are dissolved and naturally flushed from the body.

Treatment with Photofrin is minimally invasive and usually can be conducted on an outpatient basis or may require only a short hospital stay. Photofrin has been approved for the treatment of esophageal cancer.

The American Cancer Society estimates esophageal cancer, one of the least curable and rapidly advancing cancers, kills nearly 11,000 Americans a year. Esophageal cancer can block the normal ingestion of liquids and solid nutrition and, at times, may even prevent the patient from swallowing saliva.

Photodynamic therapy lasts an average of 12 to 25 minutes per treatment. The treatment can be used during all stages of cancer and may be used in conjunction with surgery or other treatments. The patient's only side effect is extreme skin sensitivity to sunlight for about one month after treatment. The patient must avoid direct exposure to sunlight for a 4-to-6 week period following Photofrin administration.

PDT is far from a cure-all. Unlike chemotherapy, it cannot attack cancer cells that have metastasized throughout the body. Its greatest promise may be with early-stage cancer patients in whom surgical intervention may be avoided.

Co-Director
Mark Lega, M.D.

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