Photodynamic Therapy in Lung Cancer

Until recently, PDT for lung cancer had primarily been a research tool. Several institutions worked with PDT in the 1980s, but its use in the United States remained limited to the research setting. Photodynamic therapy using the first FDA-approved photosensitizing agent, porfimer sodium (Photofrin), is now available to US clinicians. Photodynamic therapy has the potential to complement and improve the approach to a variety of clinical problems. Potential applications include carcinoma in situ, early-stage lung cancer in nonsurgical candidates, advanced lung cancer, and tumors metastatic to the lung. To properly assess the role of PDT in these settings requires careful analysis of the mechanism of action and technique of PDT, a review of clinical studies using PDT, and an exploration of how PDT may be integrated into a multimodality approach.