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Updated: Jul 15, 2026
An In-House-Built and Light-Emitting-Diode-Based Photodynamic Therapy Device for Enhancing Verteporfin Cytotoxicity in a 2D Cell Culture Model
Published on: January 13, 2023
Photodynamic therapy for pancreatic cancer
Bo-Guang Fan1, Ake Andrén-Sandberg
1Centre for Gastrointestinal Disease, Taizhou Hospital, Zhejiang, China. fanboguang@gmail.com
Objectives:
This study examined the status of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of cancers of the pancreas.
Methods:
Original and review articles, editorials, and case reports published primarily in English and listed in Medline/ISI up to October 2006 or identified by a manual search have been reviewed in an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms of PDT action and clinical application of PDT in the treatment of pancreatic cancers.
Results:
Photodynamic therapy represents a novel treatment of pancreatic malignancy; it produces local necrosis of tissue with light after administration of a photosensitizing agent. Evidences from in vivo and in vitro results have shown that PDT significantly decreases pancreatic cancer cell growth, destroys pancreatic carcinoma, and prolongs the survival of patients with unresectable pancreatic malignancy, and also show that PDT has disadvantages and limitations for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Conclusions:
Photodynamic therapy can be an effective treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer, but more extensive preclinical and clinical trials are needed for further improvement in the clinical application of PDT, especially in avoidance of complications during PDT.
