Clinical Oncology & Radiation Therapy

Phototherapy

Dynamic phototherapy refers to the use of Hematoporphyrin or photofrin II preparations, at specific light wavelengths, in the detection and treatment of malignant solid tumors. Both the detection and treatment of tumors by the dynamic phototherapy technique depend on the character of the neoplasm, on the location of the preparation in the tumor, Hematoporphyrin concentration, molecular oxygen availability and visible light. Proton therapy is useful for treating tumors that have not spread and for tumors near important parts of the body, such as near the eye, the brain, and the spinal cord. It is also used for treating children because it lessens the chance of harming healthy, developing tissue. Children may receive proton therapy for cancers of the brain and spinal cord and the eye, such as Retinoblastoma and orbital Rhabdomyosarcoma. Proton therapy also may be used to treat these cancers: Central nervous system cancers - including Chordoma, Chondrosarcoma, and Malignant meningioma, Eye cancer, including melanoma or choroidal melanoma, Head and neck cancers, including nasal cavity and Para nasal sinus cancer and some Nasopharyngeal cancers, Lung cancer, Liver cancer, Prostate cancer, Spinal and Pelvic sarcomas, which are cancers that occur in the soft-tissue and bone, Noncancerous Brain tumors.