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Mesothelioma photodynamic therapy
By Eden Ali | June 15, 2007
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a kind of treatment of mesothelioma cancers established on the fact that single-celled organisms, when treated first with some kind of photosensitive drugs, will be destroyed when exposed to light at a special intensity. PDT kills mesothelioma cancers by the use of a fixed intensity of light in instigating the photosensitizing drugs that have amassed or accumulated in the tissues of the body of mesothelioma patients. In PDT, a photosensitizing drug is given to mesothelioma patients by intravenous means. After a specific time, usually a few days, the drug choicefully deposits in cancerous cells, while quickly being removed from normal cells. The diseased cells after the deposition of this photosentitizing drug are then exposed to a laser light selected for its capability to stimulate the photosensitizing agent in mesothelioma patients. This laser light is directed to the site of the mesothelioma cancers, (the chest in the case of pleural mesothelioma), via a fiberoptic machine which enables the laser light to be controlled by the doctor. As the photosensitizing agent in the treated cells absorbs the light, an active type of oxygen kills the neighbouring cancerous cells. The exposure to light must be cautiously controlled, so that it can happen when many of the photosensitizing drug has been removed from the normal cells, but is still deposited in the cancerous ones.
The most common and most occuring side effect of PDT is skin sensitivity. Mesothelioma patients going through this kind of treatment of mesothelioma are often recommended to to stay away from direct and even indirect sunlight for a minimum of six weeks. Other side effects of this treatment of mesothelioma include nausea, vomiting, and eye sensitivity to light. These side effects may on some occassion come because of the injection of the photosensitizing agent.
Topics: Mesothelioma treatment ways |