The diagnosis of lung cancer was significantly enhanced by the development of the fiberoptic bronchoscope in 1965. Since then, advances in photosensitizers and light sources have brought photodynamic medicine into the light. This article offers an historic overview of the emergence of photodynamic medicine through the perspective of a pioneer with more than 30 years' experience. Along with a di...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a medical technique for the treatment of cancer. It based on use non-toxic molecules, called photosensitizers (PSs), that become toxic when irradiated with...

Although introduced for the treatment of maculopathies, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is now largely used in some eye cancers treatment. The selective tissue damage with PDT is achieved by sequestration of the photosensitizer in the target tissue and focal activation of the photosensitizer by low energy directed light. In this way, it is possible to achieve the destruction of the tumor tissue by s...

CLINICAL CASE A patient had bilateral angioid streaks complicated by cicatricial degeneration in the left eye and subfoveal choroidal neovascularization in the right eye. Photodynamic therapy resulted in a favorable response with normalization of the visual acuity and angiographic resolution of the lesions. DISCUSSION The most serious complication of angioid streaks is choroidal neovasculariz...

We report the use of photodynamic therapy with verteporfin for subfoveal choroidal neovacularization in central serous chorioretinopathy. Visual acuity improved (0.5 to 1.0) 30 days after the first session. After 141 days, the choroidal neovascularization reactivated and the patient was retreated. Again, visual acuity improved (0.5 to 1.0) 30 days afterwards. It remains stable after 20 months. ...

CASE REPORTS The clinical characteristics of three patients with circumscribed choroidal haemangioma and subfoveal exudation detected by optical coherence tomography are described in this paper. The three patients were successfully treated with photodynamic therapy. DISCUSSION Photodynamic therapy is the most adequate therapeutic option for circumscribed choroidal hemangioma associated with s...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To describe the introduction and use of intense pulsed light (IPL) to treat vascular and pigmented lesions comprising photorejuvenation and its use in photodynamic therapy. METHODS Review of the medical literature and the authors' experience with IPL. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS IPL is an excellent treatment modality for vascular and pigmented manifestations of photoagi...

Onychomycosis is a disease of high incidence in the nail plate and responsible for approximately half of the cases of nail infections. Conventionally, dermatologists prescribe antibiotics and antifungals for long periods for its treatment. The high incidence of this type of infection and the increase of microbial strains resistant to the available drugs have justified the importance of the deve...

BACKGROUND Recent years have seen an increase in the off-label use of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of a variety of skin diseases. Plaque-phase mycosis fungoides is among the most promising possibilities for the use of this treatment. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the treatment of plaque-phase mycosis fungoides with photodynamic therapy and compare the results obtained using fluorescence ph...

Periodontal disease is a multifactorial disease associated with destruction of supporting periodontal tissues of the tooth caused by certain periodontopathogenic species of bacteria or their toxic products by means of a biofilm formation. The conventional methods to treat periodontal diseases are the mechanical removal of the biofilm and adjunctive use of antibacterial disinfectants or various ...