SAN DIEGO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Combining a light-activated drug with surgery gives another year of life to patients with advanced lung cancer, researchers reported Wednesday.
So far 20 patients have undergone the experimental treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, said Dr. Joseph Friedberg, chief of thoracic surgery at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
This is the most common type of lung cancer and patients with advanced disease typically live for about six months after initial treatment.
On average the photodynamic therapy has "given them another year," said Friedberg, who added one patient, a 37-year-old man, has survived cancer-free for four years.
The study was presented at CHEST 2002, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Dr. Shamus Carr, a surgical resident who presented the paper while Friedberg continued to treat patients in Philadelphia, told United Press International the treatment can only be used in patients whose disease has not spread to other areas of the body.
"We do CT scans of the brain and other organs to confirm that the cancer is confined to the lungs," Carr said.
Before the new treatment is offered, patients must undergo standard chemotherapy. If chemotherapy fails, meaning the cancer continues to grow, the patients are referred for the photodynamic treatment.
Patients are injected with the drug, called Photofrin, 24 hours before surgery to remove diseased sections of the lung. Once surgeons have removed the cancerous tissue, the surgeon bathes the remaining lung with laser beams that activate the drug.
Friedman said the light "activates the drug which then destroys the cancer cells." Although the drug is present in all parts of the body, it is drawn to cancer cells by "some metabolic signal that we don't completely understand. But when we did tissue biopsies we have found that the drug is present in cancer cells at a concentration that is about twice the concentration found in other cells."
Carr said the drug also appears to trigger a heightened response in the immune system "so the body begins to help in the fight against cancer."
Dr. Walter Scott, a thoracic surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, said the results are "promising but this is a very early experience. Still adding a year of survival is impressive in these patients."
Scott also noted many patients in advanced stages of the disease are weakened and poor candidates for surgery.
Carr said the patients already treated ranged in age from 35 to 72 and most "were still pretty functional."
Friedberg said he plans to expand the study to 50 patients. If the positive results continue, he said he will seek funding for a much larger study.
