Photodynamic therapy for upper gastrointestinal tumours over the past 10 years

A total of 207 patients with advanced upper gastrointestinal tumors were treated with photodynamic therapy (PDT) from 1982 to 1992. This paper reports on the effectiveness and evaluates the follow-up survey of the results. The patients were aged 29-91 years, of whom 189 were men and 18 women. Forty-eight to 72 hr prior to irradiation, 5 mg/kg of HpD was injected intravenously. An argon pumped dye laser was used with an output beam of 630 nm. The entire tumour received an estimated energy dose of 200-250 J/cm2. The diagnosis of cancer was confirmed by biopsy and histological examination. Of the 207 cases treated, 45 had cancer of the esophagus, 123 had cancer of the cardia, and 39 had cancer of the stomach. Response to PDT was seen in 146 patients (70.5%), with CR in 31 patients who were followed up for 6 months to 10 years. Seven of the latter patients (22.6%) survived more than 5 years and are still under close follow-up.