Barrett's esophagus, the management of which remains controversial, is the precursor condition to esophageal adenocarcinoma. A number of endoscopic treatments have been designed as an alternative to surgical resection for patients with high-grade dysplasia. One of these, photodynamic therapy, involves the light activation of a photosensitizer that causes local tissue destruction via oxidation reactions. The present work reviews the effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of this treatment. A systematic review of the literature recorded in the Medline, Embase, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane Database, and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database was undertaken. Articles reporting randomized clinical trials of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of Barrett's esophagus, and economic assessments of the procedure, were selected. The quality of the articles was checked. Twelve articles were included in this review: eight randomized, controlled clinical trials and four economic assessments. The clinical trials suffered from methodological limitations, but the economic assessments were considered to be good quality. Photodynamic therapy is effective for the ablation of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus, although the frequency of adverse events is quite high. The procedure is presented as a cost-effective alternative to intense endoscopic monitoring and esophagectomy. However, the evidence regarding its effectiveness in reducing the number of patients who go on to develop cancer is only incipient. Rigorous, controlled studies with longer follow-up times, in which photodynamic therapy is compared with surgical resection and other endoscopic techniques, are needed.
© 2010 Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.