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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved PDT for treatment of advanced lung cancer in late December, 1998.

This is the second lung cancer indication for PDT. The FDA approved PDT for treatment of microinvasive (early) lung cancer earlier in 1998.

Click here to read a news release describing the newest FDA approval.

Overview of Lung Cancer

The purpose of this page is to provide patients, their families and others with a brief overview of lung cancer. If you have lung cancer, the best source of information is a caring, informed health care provider. Patients are encouraged to discuss their condition thoroughly with a health care provider who is experienced and knowledgeable in the treatment of lung cancer. More information is available from: The National Cancer Institute and The American Cancer Society.

Risk Factors

These tragic statistics can change! A dramatic difference could be seen with more effective smoking cessation programs for smokers and, more importantly, if young people never pick up the habit. Lung cancer occurs later in life, often after the person has been smoking for many years. Smoking avoidance can be lifesaving.

Types of Lung Cancer

There are two major types of lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell. The two types respond differently to treatment and carry different prognoses.

Non-small cell lung cancer is the more common type of lung cancer. There are many subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (abbreviated NSCLC). Further details about these types is available on other websites and from organizations such as The National Cancer Institute's Cancernet and The American Cancer Society's Cancer Resource Center, and of course, your physician.

NSCLC is most often treated with surgery, sometimes in combination with radiotherapy (radiation) and chemotherapy (drugs).

Small cell lung cancer responds well to chemotherapy and radiation. Small cell lung cancer is also known as oat cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer tends to spread throughout the body (or metastasize) more rapidly than non-small cell lung cancer. Unfortunately, both types of lung cancer often go undetected until metastasis has occurred.

Staging of Lung Cancer

The severity of cancer is described in terms of its stage. Stage 1 is least severe; stage 4 is most severe. These stages correlate with prognosis. In other words, a person with stage 1 cancer can be expected to live longer and is more likely to recover fully than a person with stage 4 cancer.

Lung cancer is staged on the basis of three criteria: tumor location, lymph node involvement, and metastasis (spread). These criteria are abbreviated T (tumor size and location), N (lymph node involvement) and M (metastasis). Physicians use these three staging criteria to make decisions about the best course of treatment for each patient.

Tumor Size and Location

The size of a tumor and its location are indicated by stages T0 (less extensive) through T4 (most extensive). Tumors smaller than 3 cm (a little over an inch) in diameter and tumors that do not extend through the lining of the lungs (the pleura) or into the major airways (the bronchi) are less serious. These cancers are T0 or T1. Tumors that invade other structures of the lungs such as the pleura and the diaphragm are T2 and higher.

Lymph node involvement

Lymph nodes are small bean-shaped organs that filter the blood and fight infections and other diseases. They are connected to each other by a network of vessels that form the lymphatic system, one of the body's main defenses against disease.

Cancer spreads from the site where it started (the primary site) to other parts of the body through the blood vessels and the lymphatic system. Lymph node spread is diagnosed with a lymph node biopsy. In this procedure,a a physician takes a sample of the patient's lymph nodes and has them analyzed for evidence of cancer. The less lymph node involvement, the better.

Metastasis

Metastasis refers to spreading of the cancer from the original or primary tumor site to other parts of the body. Lung cancer may spread within the chest to the area surrounding the heart, to the brain, the bones, the liver and other organs. Metastasis is diagnosed with bone scans, PET scans, CAT scans, and other procedures.

Photodynamic Therapy and Lung Cancer