Advanced Laser Therapy. Photodynamic Therapy for Malignant Tumor.

Endoscopic laser therapy in malignant tracheobronchial obstruction using sequential Nd YAG laser and photodynamic therapy.

BACKGROUND Because the survival after treatment of advanced inoperable endo-tracheobronchial carcinoma is so poor, a pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the combined cumulative effect on survival of neodymium yttrium aluminium garnet (Nd YAG) laser followed by photodynamic treatment used endoscopically. METHODS Seventeen patients who presented between January 1992 and March 1996 with inope...

Photodynamic therapy and laser-based diagnostic studies of malignant tumours

Photodynamic Therapy for Malignant Brain Tumors

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using talaporfin sodium together with a semiconductor laser was approved in Japan in October 2003 as a less invasive therapy for early-stage lung cancer. The author believes that the principle of PDT would be applicable for controlling the invading front of malignant brain tumors and verified its efficacy through experiments using glioma cell lines and glioma xenograf...

Photodynamic therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Surgery is the treatment option most likely to be associated with prolonged remission in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, it remains investigational and must always be combined with other modalities to treat the microscopic disease that remains after the most aggressive operations. Improvements in quality of life for appropriate patients with this rare yet incurable cancer...

Photodynamic laser therapy for rheumatoid arthritis

During recent years, arthroscopic synovectomy has increasingly displaced the open procedures conventionally used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [11]. The arthroscopic technique has the merit of being less traumatic and more precise [5]. Recent studies suggested that further improvements may be achieved by use of the holmium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG laser) [12]. Besides ens...