Evaluation of photodynamic therapy in advanced gastrointestinal cancer

One hundred forty-two patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancers were treated by PDT from September 1982 to December 1988. Hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) (5 mg/kg) was given intravenously 48-72 hours before PDT. The light source was an argon dye laser with an output beam of 630 nm. The entire tumor was irradiated with a light dose of 100-250 J/cm 2. Fifteen patients (10.6%) had a complete response, 53 (37.3%) had a partial response, and 32 (22.5%) had a mild response. In all, 100 patients (70.4%) had a response to PDT. The experiments and clinical results show that the estimated energy dose (EED) value 200-250 J/cm 2 is appropriate. All patients were treated by PDT and adjuvant chemotherapy and showed good results with a follow-up of 1-5 years. Thirteen of 15 patients in the CR group are alive (86.7%), and 12 patients survived more than 2 years (8.8%).