What is Photodynamic Therapy?
Photo Dynamic Therapy starts with the administration of photosensitive chemicals called porphyrins. These chemicals then collect in rapidly proliferating cells and when exposed to specific wave-length light, initiate a cascade of molecular reactions that can destroy those cells and the tissues they reside within. Some targets for PDT include abnormal blood vessels in the retinas of people with age-related macular degeneration (the leading cause of adult blindness), cancerous tumours and atherosclerotic plaques IE: coronary arteries.
How is NGPDT Different?
Next Generation PDT has several advantages over other Photo Dynamic Therapies…
- Nontoxic cancer therapy
- Highly Selective for cancer cells
- No photosensitivity thanks to quick clearance time
- Large Depth of penetration of activating light
- Peaks of absorption upper therapeutic window
- Amphiphilic
- High Singlet oxygen yield
Next Generation PDT Advantages
Non-Toxic Cancer Therapy
Some 1st and 2nd generation PDT agents are derived from synthetic materials that are toxic and can cause discomfort to the patient. NGPDT photosensitizing agent is chlorophyll derived from plants and is non-toxic. Because of the low toxicity of our advanced agent it is actually an approved product, and is completely harmless to the body.
Highly Selective For Cancer Cells
What this means is that the whole body can be safely treated instead of just one tumour at a time. With Next Generation PDT Cancer Treatment every individual cancer cell will be treated; even developing cells that have may not have been detected at the time of treatment. And with the ability to use near infrared light sources cancers can be treated at depths up to 5 inches.
1st and 2nd generation PDT agents are do not accumulate in cancer cells as efficiently as the NGPDT photosensitiser. Typically previous generations of the photo sensitizer were administered intravenously and a light the light source was administered directly to the source of the cancer to minimise the damage to healthy cells. Our NGPDT agent selectively accumulates into cancer cells only so the light can be safely provided over the whole body to treat every area affected by cancer.
Minimized Photosensitivity
Previous PDT photosensitizers have a far longer clearance time and the PDT agent can travel throughout the body for up to 3 months. The frequency of light needed to activate older generations of PDT is also not sufficient to penetrate tissue deeper than approximately one third of an inch this meant to treat deeper tumours the light had to be invasively inserted to effectively treat deeper tumour cells.
NGPDT selectively attaches to cancer cells and has a 24 hour clearance time, this means there is no need to be in the out of direct light and unique light sources, this penetrate deep into the tissue, can be used to treat the whole body.
Able to Treat Deep Seated Tumours
1st and 2nd generation PDT could only penetrate between 0.5 cm and 3 cm so they had significant limitations in treating deep tumours. Next Generation PDT lights and lasers are specially designed to penetrate deep into the body’s tissue, accompanied by interstitial light delivery for areas not able to be reached via external light sources.
