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Photodynamic therapy for cholangiocarcinoma
Author(s) -
Ortner MariaAnna
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.21106
Subject(s) - photodynamic therapy , medicine , gemcitabine , randomized controlled trial , radiation therapy , chemotherapy , cisplatin , oncology , surgical resection , surgery , chemistry , organic chemistry
The only hope for cure in patients with cholangiocarcinoma is curative surgical resection. Unfortunately it can only performed in less than half of the patients. In the palliative setting endoprostheses insertion improves cholestasis. Survival time is not prolonged. The most promising conventional antitumoral therapy is chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine. However, randomized trials showing a clear survival advantage of chemo‐ or radiotherapy are missing. Photodynamic therapy utilizing photo‐physical properties of light‐absorbing drugs to efficiently generate reactive cytotoxic oxygen species has shown efficacy in several pilot studies, retrospective comparative studies and two prospective, randomized studies. Here, we review mechanism of action, technique, and efficacy of photodynamic therapy for cholangiocarcinoma. Lasers Surg. Med. 43:776–780, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.