Photodynamic therapy as an alternative treatment for surgery in a patient with lung cancer undergoing bone marrow transplantation.

Abstract

We describe a patient who suffered from a bacterial pneumonia and had a left-sided infiltrate on his chest radiograph. He was found to be cytopenic and acute myeloid leukemia was diagnosed. A complete remission was achieved after chemotherapy, and the patient was scheduled to have autologous bone marrow transplantation. Bronchoscopy was performed because of persistent hemoptysis and a squamous cell carcinoma in the right upper lobe bronchus was found. This small tumor was successfully treated with photodynamic therapy preventing any delay in the treatment of his leukemia, which would have occurred if surgery had been the treatment of choice. The patient is still in complete remission after a follow-up period of 12 months.