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When treating patients with mesothelioma or pleural disease, Penn Medicine lung specialists offer more treatment options than most other health systems across the country and around the world.

One of those treatment options is photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Mesothelioma Treatment with Photodynamic Therapy

Penn was the first health system in the Philadelphia area to begin researching the use of PDT to treat cancer. Also known as photoradiation therapy, phototherapy or photochemotherapy, PDT brings together light-sensitive medication with low-level beams of light to destroy cancer cells.

Mesothelioma is by definition a disease that is multifocal, meaning it occurs in several places in the lining of the lung simultaneously. This has traditionally made surgery as a treatment for mesothelioma difficult and ineffective.

PDT is used during surgery to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. It works by bringing together a light-sensitive medication with low-level beams of light to destroy cancer cells.  The medication is injected into the bloodstream and absorbed by the cancer cells. A light source is then applied to the area being treated. The light causes the drug to react with oxygen to form a chemical that kills the cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy can also work by destroying the blood vessels that feed the tumor.

PDT can only work in areas that the light can actually reach. It is effective in treating mesothelioma because it is a cancer that affects the lining of the lung. During the surgery, the light is applied to the pleural space, or area surrounding the lungs. Penn researchers continue working on ways to improve PDT’s effectiveness.

Associate Professor of Surgery, Joseph Friedberg, MD, is researchering ways PDT is uses to treat cancer, such as combining PDT with gene therapy or with tumor vaccines to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.

These are the areas of PDT research today at Penn, and in all likelihood, the innovations of tomorrow that will make mesothelioma easier to treat.

The outlook for mesothelioma patients is improving both in terms of quality and quantity of life, but those improvements depend on being treated at a center that has the expertise and experience to develop the individual treatment plans that are essential to obtaining the best outcomes.
 

Would you like to learn more about treatments for mesothelioma and pleural diseases?

The Penn Mesothelioma and Pleural Program offers a true multidisciplinary approach, presenting patients with essentially all treatment options offered worldwide and a number of treatments offered only at Penn such as PDT.

For more information about the Penn Mesothelioma and Pleural Program, call 215-662-9697.

A dedicated patient navigator will assist you with specific questions about mesothelioma and pleural diseases, and can help you schedule an appointment with a Penn specialist.

Helpful links:

• Learn more about the Penn mesothelioma program.
• Learn more about mesothelioma.
• Learn more about treatments for mesothelioma at Penn.
• Find a mesothelioma specialist at Penn.

Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.