British doctors have unveiled a breast cancer procedure that destroys tumors with laser light. The revolutionary treatment, which can be carried out in mere minutes, works without surgery and without harming healthy cells.
The technique, called “photodynamic therapy” or PDT, has previously been used on cancers of the mouth and skin, but this is the first test on primary breast cancer. The initial clinical trial will be held this year, and is being led by Mo Keshtgar at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
PDT begins with the injection of a drug into the patient’s bloodstream that makes cancer cells highly sensitive to light. The drug finds its way into the breast’s epithelial cells, accumulating in cancer cells. It prefers cancer cells to normal cells because it is attracted to the numerous new blood vessels surrounding cancerous tumors that exhibit high metabolic activity. As soon as the cancer cells take up the drug, surgeons hit the tumor with a blast from a low-powered red laser, triggering a chemical reaction that destroys it.
After several hours, the drug loses its potency. Patients, however, are kept in a dimly-lit environment for 24 hours, then cautioned to avoid bright sunlight for another 24.
“The key appeal is that it attacks and destroys cancer cells while retaining the viability of the surrounding normal cells,” Keshtgar said. “Our treatment will keep the structure of the connective tissue intact, meaning the breast does not become deformed or lose shape.”
The trial will be conducted on twenty breast cancer patients scheduled for mastectomies. Just prior to surgery, they will have PDT, followed by examination of the tissue to evaluate PDT’s effect. If the first trial shows promise, larger trials will follow. After proper testing, the researchers say, the technique could be available within six years. Trials are already underway for other
cancers, including prostate, bile duct, and pancreatic cancer.
The chance of a woman developing breast cancer during her life is about 1 in 8; it is the most common cancer in American women except for skin cancer, with about 190,000 new cases being diagnosed every year.
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