Definitive surgery and intraoperative photodynamic therapy: a prospective study of local control and survival for patients with pleural dissemination of non-small cell lung cancer.

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with pleural dissemination have very limited survivals often of just 6-9 months. Prior reports of aggressive surgical resection of pleural metastases have shown no consistent improvements in overall survival and very high rates of local recurrences. Based on this and the generally very diffuse pleural dissemination seen in patients, chemotherapy and palliative interventions are standard of care. By attempting to sterile microscopic residual disease after surgical resection, intraoperative photodynamic therapy (PDT) could improve local pleural control and overall survival compared with surgery alone for patients with NSCLC with pleural metastasis. Prior attempts to demonstrate an improvement in clinical outcomes with PDT as an intraoperative adjuvant combined with definitive surgery to treat pleural malignancies have not been successful, perhaps due, in part, to limited ability to perform real-time dosimetry and ensure adequate and even light distribution throughout the chest cavity. A stratified phase II trial assessed the efficacy of definitive surgery and intraoperative PDT with real-time dosimetry in patients with NSCLC with pleural dissemination demonstrated prolonged local control and a higher than expected 21.7-month median survival from the time of surgery and PDT among 22 enrolled patients. This is the first ever report describing optimal methods, techniques, and dosimetry that could be used to safely and reproducibly deliver intraoperative PDT to the chest cavity as part of multimodality therapy for NSCLC with pleural metastasis.