Lung cancer accounts for almost one-third of cancer deaths. Cancer screening strategies have the potential to achieve a 20% reduction in death rates. Newly developed bronchoscopic technologies (such as navigational bronchoscopy) have shown to enable physicians to safely reach lesions in peripheral regions of the lung and obtain diagnosis. This new technology may now potentially offer bronchoscopic therapeutic interventions, such as photodynamic therapy, to tumors that were previously unreachable due to their peripheral anatomic location.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses a combination of a photosensitizing drug (a drug that is activated by light), called porfimer sodium (Photofrin®), and a light from a laser that emits no heat. This technique works to allow the medical doctor to specifically target and destroy abnormal or cancer cells while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The activation of the drug is done by lighting the abnormal area using a fiber optic device (very fine fiber \[like a fishing line\] that permits light transmission) inserted into a flexible tube called bronchoscope. The light activates the porfimer sodium, which is concentrated in the abnormal tissue, leading to its destruction.
The purpose of this study is to determine if physicians can reach the tumors in the periphery of the lung via electronavigational bronchoscopy and deliver the photodynamic therapy by placing the optical fiber into the tumor.
