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e recommend that these patients wear dark sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, turtleneck, long sleeves, gloves and long pants if they must go out during the day after the surgery to protect themselves against sunburn," Warren said. "Patients will not experience photosensitivity when exposed to ordinary indoor lighting from normal fluorescent or low wattage incandescent bulbs," he said.

Currently, PDT is FDA approved for use on tumors in the esophagus and lung cancers blocking the windpipe. Warren cautioned that, while PDT is not a cure for many patients whose cancer has spread, it can improve the quality of life significantly for those who are having trouble eating, swallowing or breathing. Other alternatives to ease swallowing or breathing include stent surgery, in which a device is implanted into the windpipe or esophagus to prop open the passageway. These can still be used in conjunction with PDT and conventional laser therapy.

Over a 20-year period, there have been significant increases in the number of deaths from several cancers involving the lungs, throat and esophagus. For example, according to the American Cancer Society, males have experienced a 24 percent increase in death from esophageal cancer, while there has been a 147 percent increase in the number of women who have died from lung cancer between 1974 and 1994.

"PDT may, in some cases, cure the cancer if it has been caught very early," he said. "In most patients, however, PDT will simply return to them the ability to breath and eat, which for many patients at this stage, is a Godsend."

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Contact: Chris Martin
cmartin@rsh.net
312-942-7820
Rush University Medical Center
5-Aug-1999

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