New Cancer Treatment

Photodynamic therapy is a treatment for some cancers and conditions that may develop into a cancer. The therapy uses lasers or other light sources combined with a light sensitive drug (photosensitizing agent) to destroy cancer cells. This article talks about how PDT was used to treat a boy who had cancer. He had 11 tumors which were not treated by chemotherapy or other traditional treatments. When he started the use of PDT, it treated 10 of the 11 tumors. This treatment though effective does not work on all cancer patients. It usually works on cancers in the bile, gullet, head and neck, lungs and skin. This article gives an example of how the photodynamic therapy worked partially on a neuroblastoma patient. Neuroblastoma is a cancer that occurs in about 80 children in Britain. This treatment is interesting because it shows how much science has developed, and how close we are to finding a cure for cancer.

References
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertreatment/Treatmenttypes/Othertreatments/Photodynamictherapy.aspx
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-15974631