General principles of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and gastrointestinal applications.
The purpose of this review article is to describe the history of photodynamic therapy (PDT), its current medical applications, the mechanism of action, contraindications of the method, and different types of photosensitizers used. The second part of the article deals with applications for gastrointestinal diseases. The treatment of obstructing oesophageal cancer, early-stage oesophageal cancer, Barrett's esophagus, hilar cholangiocarcinoma, stomach-, colon- and pancreatic cancer are discussed. The final part focuses on future directions of PDT like certain innovative ideas, which are currently under investigation.
Department of Internal Medicine II, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Str. 27, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. wiedm@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Marcus W
MW
Wiedmann
Karel
K
Caca
D000818:Animals; D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D017319:Photosensitizing Agents