Photodynamic therapy and/or external beam radiation therapy for roentgenologically occult lung cancer

✍ Scribed by Sumitaka Imamura; Yoko Kusunoki; Nobuhide Takifuji; Shinzoh Kudo; Kaoru Matsui; Noriyuki Masuda; Minoru Takada; Shunichi Negoro; Shinei Ryu; Masahiro Fukuoka

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 613 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19940315)73:6<1608::aid-cncr2820730611>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

Background and Methods. Thirty-nine roentgenologically occult lung cancers in 29 patients were treated using photodynamic therapy (PDT) and/or thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) from January 1986 to March 1992. With the exception of one mixed-tumor case, all were squamous cell carcinomas.

Results. Initial PDT achieved complete responses in 25 of 39 (64%) of the cancers. Of the remaining 14 cancers that showed less than complete response (CR), 10 of the 14 (71.4%) showed a CR when subsequently treated with TRT, yielding an overall CR rate of 89.7% for cancers treated. Although nine patients experienced recurrences, six of these had CR when treated with PDT and/or TRT. To date, 22 patients are alive. Causes of death in the patients enrolled in this study are as follows: pyothorax (2); heart failure due to pulmonary hypertension (1); chronic respiratory insufficiency (1); subsequent primary brain cancer 11); and subsequent primary lung cancer (1). Only one died of primary lung cancer.

Conclusions. These findings suggest that PDT and/or TRT may be used as an alternative to surgery in the treatment of selected patients with roentgenologically occult lung cancer. Cancer