On October 14, Dr. Sonett performed the first photodynamic therapy for a lung cancer patient in Maryland. The patient, an elderly, frail man with cancer in both lungs, was in imminent danger of respiratory failure. Following the treatment, which lasted about 10 minutes, the man was able to breathe comfortably. The University of Maryland Medical Center has been using photodynamic therapy since early 1997, when it became the first medical institution in Maryland to perform the therapy to destroy tumors in the esophagus. In lung cancer patients, photodynamic therapy offers another option for those who are not candidates for traditional surgery or radiation, due to advanced age, frail health, tumors that are too numerous, or other factors.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
About half of the patients diagnosed with lung cancer are inoperable, says Dr. Sonett. This therapy offers those patients a minimally invasive option that has few side effects. It can also be used in conjunction with radiation therapy. For the treatment, which is performed on an outpatient basis, patients first receive an intravenous infusion of the drug Photofrin. Over the next 48 hours, the drug finds and becomes concentrated within tumors.