[Photodynamic therapy for lung cancer: state of the art and expanded indications]

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has now achieved the status of a standard treatment modality for centrally located, early-stage lung cancer and is introduced on the home page of the US National Cancer Institute. Over the past decade, 145 patients (191 lesions) with central-type early-stage lung cancers have been treated with PDT in our hospital. Overall complete remission was obtained in 86.4% of the total number of lesions. In patients with advanced stage III disease, however, bronchi opening was successful in 61 out of 81 lesions (75%) for the PDT group compared with 143 of 177 (81%) in the Nd-YAG laser therapy group. Although quite recent, treatment using PDT has been introduced for the first time in patients with peripheral lung cancer, who did not previously meet the criteria for surgery. Eight patients underwent this trial, of which 3 achieved partial remission. No serious complications except for one case of pneumothorax, were noted. As increasing number of patients consider quality of life after therapy, the indications for PDT are expected to expand. The success in clinical trials of PDT for cancer treatment offers encouragement for its future use.