[Clinical application of photodynamic method to the treatment of malignancies. Part II]

The successfully finished experimental studies in an animal model became the foundation for starting clinical trials with the use of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of malignancies in humans. The data presented in the literature worldwide include mainly early results of such studies. This method seems to be of particular usefulness in the treatment of neoplasma with location accessible to various light sources, including the use of endoscopic techniques. Several thousand patients with various degrees of disease progression were subjected to the treatment. Among others, oesophagal, gastric and large bowel cancers were treated as well as malignancies of the pancreas and bile ducts, lungs, brain, breasts skin and bladder. The results of the presented clinical trials point to the possibility of the use of photodynamic therapy as the main treatment, and also as an element of supportive therapy e.g. in classical surgical treatment.