Light therapy is gaining popularity in the United States for treating certain lung and skin cancers, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer Jan. 29, 2010.
 
The article describes the light therapy technique, also called photodynamic therapy, which uses light to target tumors in the body without the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
 
The treatment infuses a patient with medicine that makes the tumor cells sensitive to light, then a couple days later, a doctor threads a flexible fiber near the cancer cells and shines a red laser at the tumor.

According to a pulmonologist cited in the article, photodynamic therapy can eliminate cancerous tumors in the early stages of skin and esophageal cancer as well as some superficial lesions of the lung.

Researchers at the University of Virginia are also trying to gain approval from the Food & Drug Administration to use photodynamic therapy in the treatment of bile-duct cancer.
 
According to the article, a European study found that photodynamic therapy extended the life of patients with inoperable bile-duct cancer by more than a year and in some cases for several years.

“During that time, the patients reported having a better quality of life. And unlike with radiation, there is no limit to how much the body can take. Patients can repeat the process as much as needed,” the article said.

However, the therapy does make the patient sensitive to bright light and thus at risk for sunburns for up to several weeks following treatment.

A researcher at the University of the Sciences has also found some promise in using photodynamic therapy to treat prostate cancer in rats.