Abstract
In this short review the potential use of Cerenkov radiation and radioluminescence as internal sources for Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is discussed. PDT has been developed over the course of more than 100 years and is based on the induced photo conversion of a drug called photosensitizer (PS) that triggers the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to the killing of the cells. In order to overcome the problem of light penetration in the tissues, different solutions were proposed in the past. The use of radioisotopes like: 18F, 64Cu, 90Y, 177Lu as internal light sources increase the light fluence at the PS compared to an external source, resulting in a larger cytotoxic effect.
Highlights
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been developed over the course of more than 100 years as will described in more details in section 2 of this review
In this short review we discussed the potential use of Cerenkov and radioluminescence light as internal sources for PDT
An important aspect that should be further exploited regarding the use of Cerenkov and radioluminescence light sources, is the possibility of enhancing the cytotoxic effect of PDT
Summary
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been developed over the course of more than 100 years as will described in more details in section 2 of this review. The clinical use of PDT is mainly focused on treating different types of cancers; other disease like herpes acne can be treated [1], showing a wide range of possible applications. The main difficulties related to the use of PDT for clinical applications are due to the intrinsic processes (absorption and scattering) of the light in penetrating tissues, the low concentration of the PS at the tumor site and the lack of oxygen in hypoxic tumor regions. We would like to point out that we did not make any attempt in writing an exhaustive description on PDT and its clinical applications, for this please refer to these reviews [6, 7]
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