U. doctors develop new treatment for esophageal cancer

University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center physicians have successfully treated two patients in the last few months with a unique procedure for esophageal cancer called photodynamic therapy. The Center -- one of 28 National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States -- is currently the first and only facility in the Delaware Valley to offer the procedure to patients with esophageal cancer as an alternative treatment for advanced-stage tumors. The treatment -- which enables tumor cells to selectively absorb the light-activated drug Photofrin -- cannot cure the cancer or prolong life, but does relieve many of the disease's symptoms. "Photodynamic therapy is a unique method that targets the tumor -- through a combination of selective drug retention in the cancerous tissue and the targeted delivery of non-thermal light-energy," said Dr. Gregory Ginsberg, Director of Endoscopic Services for Penn's Health System and Assistant Professor of Medicine. The therapy is an outpatient procedure beginning with the intravenous administration of Photofrin into the patient's bloodstream. The drug travels through the bloodstream to the cancerous tissue where it accumulates. After a return visit to the hospital two days later, doctors direct a beam of non-thermal light through a fiber-optic probe inserted into the patient's esophagus at the tumor. The tumor cells are destroyed when the laser beam activates the drug and exposes them to a toxic form of oxygen. "I think the therapy is a great way to cure the symptoms of patients who can't have surgery," said Debbie Smith, a nurse in the Center's Division of Gastroenterology. According to the American Cancer Society, over 12,000 new cases of esophageal cancer -- sometimes related to smoking and alcohol use, but often appearing unexplained -- are reported each year in the United States. Photodynamic therapy can help ease the pain of these numerous victims when "there is not a whole lot else to offer," Smith added. But patients must avoid exposure to daylight after the procedure -- to the point that they are required to where gloves and scarfs when outdoors or near windows. Tissue cells are so sensitive that patients can suffer from third degree burns if they do not head doctors' warnings. But Dr. Stephen Hahn, Director of the Photodynamic Therapy Program in Penn's Department of Radiation Oncology, said he feels photodynamic therapy is representative of the type of treatment that will be instrumental in the future treatment of cancer. "Photodynamic therapy appears to be an effective way to relieve obstructive symptoms in patients with esophageal cancer," he said. "Presently, the treatment of this type of cancer is the only FDA-approved use of photodynamic therapy in the United States. However, Penn's Cancer Center is in the midst of clinical trials which are investigating the use of this new therapy in the treatment of other cancers as well."