Photodynamic Therapy Offers New Medical Treatments
For years now, doctors have used ultraviolet lamps to treat psoriasis and to kill airborne tuberculosis bacteria, and lasers have made deep inroads as "bloodless scalpels." Recently, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a treatment that takes advantage the specificity of certain photosensitive chemicals to treat a variety of maladies. Shown especially effective at treating early stage cancers, photodynamic therapy, or PDT as it is commonly known, uses light to activate a...
Photonics Spectra, May 1998