Efficacy and safety of photodynamic therapy with temoporfin in curative treatment of recurrent carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx

Abstract

Therapeutic options for recurrent carcinoma of the upper aérodigestive tract (UADT) are limited. The prognosis of these tumours remains poor with significant rate of recurrence and a lower median survival time. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a relatively new therapeutic alternative which combines the use of a photosensitising agent and light to induce a cytotoxic effect on the tissues. This is a retrospective single-centre study carried out in patients with a recurrence of an oral cavity or oropharyngeal carcinoma or a second appearance of tumour in a previously irradiated area. There were no metastases in lymph nodes or other organs. Laser treatment was carried out 96 h after temoporfin (Foscan(®)) injection. In our series we had 14 cases with a complete response, 1 partial response. Overall survival at 1 year was 72 % and 36 % at 5 years. Disease-specific survival at 1 year was 82 % and 45 % at 5 years. Recurrence-free survival at 1 year was 52 % and 34 % at 5 years. Side effects mainly described are pain in the area of illumination, well controlled. PDT with Foscan(®) gives useful results in terms of survival and improvement in quality of life with few adverse events or severe complications. The fact that it has low toxicity and that treatment sessions can be repeated mean it should be considered in the therapeutic armamentarium for recurrent carcinoma of the UADT.

Effects of meta-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin photodynamic therapy on isogenic colorectal cancer SW480 and SW620 cells with different metastatic potentials

“…m-THPC-PDT has been used in curative treatment for patients with the head and neck cancer [ 15 ]. Emerging reports have shown that m-THPC-PDT could be a promising application for the treatment of other malignant neoplasm, such as the liver, oral cavity, and oropharynx cancer [ 16 , 17 ]. The cell lines SW480 and SW620, derived from a surgical specimen of a primary colon adenocarcinoma and a lymph node metastasis of the same patient respectively, are a useful patient-matched model for studying colorectal cancer treatment in vitro [ 18 , 19 ].…”

Photodynamic Therapy Mediated by 5‐aminolevulinic Acid Promotes the Upregulation and Modifies the Intracellular Expression of Surveillance Proteins in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…For example, 5‐ALA is highly hydrophilic and has low penetration into the plasma membrane, necessitating high doses and prolonged incubation time to achieve an ideal therapeutic intracellular PpIX concentration . Several illumination tools and a new generation of photosensitizers have been developed to overcome these obstacles; however, recurrences of some head and neck tumors (including OSCC) after PDT have been reported , suggesting some resistance to the treatment, likely deriving from these technical difficulties.…”

Current state and future of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

“…Durbec et al in 2013 examined the efficacy and safety of PDT in recurrent carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx using Foscan, and observed a 93% complete response rate. 8 Jerjes observed a 5 year survival of 84.2% and a recurrence rate of 15.8% in T1–2 SCCA of the oral cavity treated with up to three rounds of mTHPC. 9 Biel, in a series of 113 oral cavity PDT patients, with 93.8% of patients with Cis-T2 tumors and 89.6% of patients with superficial T2–3 tumors remaining free of disease after a mean follow up of 90 months.…”