2019 Volume 40 Issue 1 Pages 67-71
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) by laserphyrin was newly covered by insurance in 2015 for esophageal cancer, following early stage lung cancer and malignant brain tumor. In photodynamic therapy, light hypersensitivity caused by photosensitizer remaining on the skin is a problem. In order to avoid the risk of light hypersensitivity, in the case of laserphyrin, a light shading period of two weeks is prescribed, but the metabolism of the drug has individual differences, and this period is prescribed for patients with slow metabolism. This light shading period does not prescribe hospitalization, but in practice, hospitalization observation is often taken. For this reason, patients with early metabolism may be forcing redundant hospitalization. Therefore, we developed a monitoring system that can quantitatively and time-sequentially measure the amount of laserphyrin remaining on the skin by fluorescence measurement. The current qualitative judgment method is stipulated in the package insert of the medicine and its revision has a high difficulty, but the realization of quantitative evaluation has the merit of both patient quality of life improvement and medical cost reduction.
