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Pulmonary resection after successful downstaging with photodynamic therapy
Keith D Mortman1, Kenneth M Frankel
1Division of Thoracic Surgery, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. keith.mortman@bhs.org
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery
|July 26, 2006
Summary
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) successfully downstaged obstructive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), enabling surgical resection. This lung cancer treatment showed no evidence of disease recurrence in the airway or mediastinum at 9 months post-operation.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Pulmonology
- Photomedicine
Background:
- Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an established lung cancer treatment.
- PDT utilizes a photosensitizing agent and targeted light delivery.
- Current applications include treating microinvasive or obstructing non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Observation:
- A case involving an obstructing endobronchial NSCLC is presented.
- The patient's tumor was treated with PDT.
- The PDT treatment aimed to enable surgical resection.
Findings:
- PDT successfully downstaged the obstructing endobronchial NSCLC.
- The downstaging allowed for complete surgical resection of the lung cancer.
- At 9 months post-surgery, the patient had a chest wall recurrence but no airway or mediastinal disease.
Implications:
- PDT can be an effective neoadjuvant therapy for resectable NSCLC.
- This approach may improve surgical outcomes in select lung cancer patients.
- Further research into PDT for downstaging obstructive NSCLC is warranted.
