To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Photodynamic Therapy Effective For Early-Stage Lung Cancer -- Mayo Clinic URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2DAC6.htm Doctor's Guide July 2, 1997
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- July 2, 1997 -- Some patients with small, early-stage lung cancers can be spared surgery and treated effectively with photodynamic therapy, according to a study by a Mayo Clinic Jacksonville lung specialist. If current results hold, photodynamic therapy could develop into a cost-effective alternative to surgery for small, squamous-cell lung cancers that have not penetrated the bronchial wall, Dr. Denis Cortese and his colleagues concluded. Results of their study involving 21 lung-cancer patients are published in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Over the last few years, surgeons have become more conservative in treating early-stage lung cancer. They have reduced the amount of tissue they remove, especially in patients whose breathing is already compromised, without substantially affecting survival rates. "Our hypothesis was that photodynamic therapy could reduce the risk of surgery, preserve lung tissue and decrease costs without sacrificing therapeutic effectiveness," said Cortese, a thoracic diseases specialist at Mayo Jacksonville. "Our goal was to determine how many patients could ultimately be spared surgery." Photodynamic therapy is a two-step, outpatient procedure that involves injecting a light-activated drug that targets cancer cells and, several days later, exposing the cancerous tissue to a certain spectrum of light. The light "switches on" the drug, destroying the cancer. Eighteen men and three women ranging in age from 53 to 81 years underwent photodynamic therapy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. They received a light-sensitive drug, hematoporphyrin derivative, two to four days before their lungs were exposed to light from an argondye laser. At first, cancer disappeared in 71 percent of patients. After a year, 52 percent still had no detectable lung cancers. The Mayo researchers have followed the patients from two to almost 10 years, and 43 percent have been spared surgery. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and women in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates about 94,400 men and 66,000 women will die of the disease in 1997. Lung cancers are divided into two types: small cell and non-small cell. The cancer cells in each type grow and spread differently and are treated in different ways. Non-small cell lung cancer is more common and is usually associated with smoking, passive smoking or radon exposure. Squamous cell is one of three kinds of non-small cell lung cancer. The five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer is 14 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. Five-year survival for all early stages, which are found and treated before spreading to lymph nodes or other organs, is 48 percent. Five-year survival rates for early-stage, squamous- cell lung cancer range from 69 to 75 percent with conventional surgery and 64 to 69 percent with minimal surgery. Unfortunately, only 15 percent of lung cancers are found in the early, localized stage. A chest X-ray can detect small cancers in the lung, but the test is not used as a routine screening tool. That's because studies in the early 1980s found no decrease in mortality in patients who were diagnosed when their cancers were small, Cortese said. But treatment and technology have improved since then, and the National Institutes of Health are funding a new, three- year study to determine the value of chest X-rays as a screening tool. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.