Light delivered by laser fibres can be used to treat inoperable cancer of the pancreas, according to new research. A trial of light therapy - involving 16 patients - found encouraging survival rates. The light treatment is used in conjunction with a photosensitising agent, meso-tetrahydroxyphenol chlorin, say researchers from University College Hospital, London. The light therapy was given six days after the administration of the drug by inserting laser fibres through the skin directly into the tumour. Two of the patients survived for two years after treatment and 50 per cent lived for at least a year after treatment. Researcher Professor Stephen Bown says it is the first time that light therapy had been tried as a treatment for cancer of the pancreas. A patient diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas could normally expect to live for just six to ten months. The new treatment could be used on patients with inoperable cancer, possibly together with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

　　From Healthy.net