CHAPTER 32: Photodynamic Therapy in Clinical Cancer Care

Over the last 20 years, the Brixen meetings on “Photodynamic Therapy and Photodiagnosis in Clinical Practice” brought together many scientists and clinicians from all over the world in a convivial and stimulating environment. Younger researchers had the opportunity to meet established experts in order to discuss projects and new ideas in an informal atmosphere. However, much of the clinical work presented was at a relatively early stage of development, and the clinicians at the meeting were those with major commitments to photodynamic therapy (PDT) rather than those who see PDT as one option amongst a range of possible techniques for treating patients in their particular specialty. This chapter looks at how the broader cancer research community sees PDT and links the Brixen meetings to the potential of PDT in routine clinical practice. It is based on a workshop held in London in July 2014, convened by the major funders of cancer research in the UK in order to review the current status of PDT. The aim was to identify which new studies would be most likely to establish where PDT could find a place in routine clinical practice in oncology.