Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) for the treatment of malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis

Photodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of Osteomyelitis

“…The light dose, which is usually given in joules per square centimeter, is empirical and varies widely. For interstitial applications, radiant exposures between 20 and 300 J/cm2 are needed [5][6][7][8][9][10]16]. …”

“…In fact, during three decades of clinical PDT, most of the treating protocols were based on the use of hematoporphyrin and its derivatives, irradiated with lasers or very sophisticated noncoherent light sources [5,16]. The combination of inexpensive photosensitizers and light sources have allowed the development of new PDT protocol that are inexpensive, safe and efficient [6][7][8][9][10]. Therefore, we can conclude that there is a great potential for the widespread use of PDT even in underserved populations.…”

“…New molecular structures, nanoparticles or nanoemulsions are being investigated in order to develop new and more efficient photo-active drugs [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Several medical conditions were treated by different protocols and depending on the medical condition, specific molecules and delivery systems were designed [5][6][7][8][9][10]. There are several low-cost options to Fig.…”

“…The severity of the disease increases with the dissemination of the infection to surrounding tissues and articular cavity; evolution to chronic osteomyelitis, amputation of the involved extremity, generalized infection or www.intechopen.com sepsis. It is a disease that can only be treated with long-term systemic and local antiobiotics treatments [1,3] Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising clinical modality for the management of various tumors and nonmalignant diseases, due to two main effects that are induced by photo-activation of specific drugs called photosensitizers: cell killing properties [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and its ability to modulate the immune response [13,14]. PDT is based on an excited-state process called photosensitization (see below), which is a combination of a photosensitizer that is selectively localized in the target tissue and illumination of the lesion with visible light, resulting in photodamage and subsequent cell death (microbial killing).…”

“…Currently, PDT is a potential approach to treat localized infectious diseases mainly due microbial resistance. Numerous worldwide clinical studies have shown that PDT represents an effective and safe modality for various types of diseases [4][5][6][7][8][9], including osteomyelitis [10][11][12].…”