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Created: 22Oct97
Current Status of Photodynamic Therapy in Dermatology
Robert Bissonnette, MD, MSc, FRCPC, and Harvey Lui, MD, FRCPC
First Paragraph: The treatment of disease by highly reactive oxygen intermediates generated through the interaction of light with a photosensitizes is called photodynamic therapy (PDT). Intensive research on PDT was initiated in the mid-1970s by Dougherty's group in Buffaloe and culminated in the approval by the Food and Drug Administration of PDT with porfimer sodium and laser light in 1995. For a review of the history of PDT, see references 11 and 44.
In PDT, patients are first administered a photosensitizes followed by exposure of treatment sites to light. There are several photosensitizers that have been used in dermatology including hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD), porfimer sodium (Photofrin, which is a purified version of hematoporphyrin derivative), 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), benzoporphyrin derivative (BPD, verteporfin), tin ethyl etiopurpurin (SnET2), and monoaspartyl chlorin e6. In North America, none of these photosensitizers has yet received regulatory approval for treating skin disorders, although porfimer sodium has been approved in several countries, including the United States and Canada, for the treatment of certain pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary malignancies. This review focuses on the use of PDT in dermatology. Although similar in principle, PUVA therapy and extracorporeal photopheresis are not discussed.
Dermatologic Clinics, July 1997, 15(3):0733-8635
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