title: Photodynamic therapy for palliation of nonresectable bile duct cancer--preliminary results with a new diode laser system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preliminary results of photodynamic therapy (PDT) of bile duct cancer have shown astonishingly good results in the reduction of cholestasis, improvement of quality of life, and even prolongation of the survival time. Unfortunately, the existing dye laser systems are large and costly, and their maintenance is expensive. Therefore, we investigated the feasibility of a diode laser system for PDT of nonresectable bile duct cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight patients with nonresectable bile duct cancer were treated. Forty-eight hours after i. v. application of 2 mg/kg body weight of Photosan-3, light activation was performed by a transpapillary (four patients) or percutaneus (four patients) access. We used a cylindrical diffusor tip and illuminated using a wavelength of 633+/-3 nm and a total energy of 200 J/cm2. All patients were additionally provided with bile duct endoprostheses after PDT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four weeks after initial PDT all patients showed a marked reduction of bile duct stenosis. The median serum bilirubin value declined from 5.8 mg/dl (2.0-10.1) to 1.0 mg/dl (0.8-4.4). The median survival time at the time of writing is 119 days (52-443). Five patients are still alive. In four patients we could change from percutaneous to transpapillary drainage after PDT, two patients showed infectious complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PDT with the diode laser system seems to be effective in reducing malignant bile duct stenosis. This treatment is minimally invasive and has a low specific complication rate. Randomized, controlled studies comparing PDT with the insertion of endoprostheses and long term follow-up of results are needed to confirm the promising short term results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Academic Teaching Hospital, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zoepf
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jakobs
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Apel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Riemann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D002758:Cholangiography; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D015996:Survival Rate