Evaluation of photodynamic therapy in advanced gastrointestinal cancer.
One hundred forty-two patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancers were treated by PDT from September 1982 to December 1988. Hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) (5 mg/kg) was given intravenously 48-72 hours before PDT.  The light source was an argon dye laser with an output beam of 630 nm.  The entire tumor was irradiated with a light dose of 100-250 J/cm 2.  Fifteen patients (10.6%) had a complete response, 53 (37.3%) had a partial response, and 32 (22.5%) had a mild response.  In all, 100 patients (70.4%) had a response to PDT.  The experiments and clinical results show that the estimated energy dose (EED) value 200-250 J/cm 2 is appropriate.  All patients were treated by PDT and adjuvant chemotherapy and showed good results with a follow-up of 1-5 years.  Thirteen of 15 patients in the CR group are alive (86.7%), and 12 patients survived more than 2 years (8.8%).
Gastric Diseases Unit, Beijing Institute for Cancer Research, People's Republic of China.
M L
ML
Jin
B Q
BQ
Yang
W
W
Zhang
P
P
Ren
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006414:Hematoporphyrin Photoradiation; D006415:Hematoporphyrins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents