Outlooks of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of cervical diseases in routine clinical practice

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies. Despite the existence of well-developed classical approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, cervical cancer demonstrates one of the highest incidence and mortality rates among female cancers. Cervical diseases are widespread, can develop at any age, and often preceded cancer development. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new and unique treatment for cancer and a number of non-malignant diseases, which is based on systemic or topical administration of photosensitizers, followed by laser exposure. We analyzed foreign and Russian articles published between 2004 and 2018 evaluating the efficacy of PDT in patients with precancerous diseases and early cervical cancer. PDT is a highly effective treatment method, which causes no complications and can eliminate human papilloma virus. We assessed potential outlooks of wide clinical use of PDT. Key words: cervical dysplasia, photodynamic therapy, photosensitizer, laser, human papillomavirus