Abstract
Purpose: We determined whether photodynamic therapy after the oral administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid in patients with superficial bladder cancer that cannot be controlled by transurethral resection and intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy would preserve the bladder, while stopping tumor progression. Side effects of treatment were also assessed.Materials and Methods: We performed photodynamic therapy after the oral administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid in 24 patients with rapidly recurring, multifocal, BCG refractory superficial pTa-pT1 transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and carcinoma in situ.Results: At a median followup of 36 months (range 12 to 51) 3 of the 5 patients with carcinoma in situ and 4 of the 19 with papillary tumors were free of recurrence. Three patients were rendered disease-free by repeat photodynamic therapy with 5-aminolevulinic acid and 3 underwent cystectomy. Tumor progression was stopped in 20 of our 24 cases. Immediately after the oral administra...
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