Background: Patients with centrally located early lung cancer (CLELC) are often heavy smokers with a considerably high risk of multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC) lesions; treatment strategies for such patients must preserve the cardiopulmonary function.
Methods: Between July 2004 and July 2008, patients with CLELC underwent photodynamic therapy (PDT) using NPe6, second-generation photosensitizer at Tokyo Medical University Hospital. Among these patients, we retrospectively analyzed MPLC, which was treated by surgery plus PDT or PDT alone and examined the effectiveness of PDT, and we propose a treatment strategy for patients with MPLC.
Results: A total of 64 patients with CLECL received NPe6-PDT, and MPLCs were found in 22 patients (34.4%) using sputum cytology and a bronchoscopical examination using autofluorescence bronchoscopy. Among these 22 patients, 10 patients underwent surgery for primary lung cancer and underwent NPe6-PDT for the treatment of secondary primary CLELC, one patient underwent PDT for CLELC as a primary lesion followed by an operation for peripheral-type lung cancer as a secondary primary lesion, and 11 patients underwent PDT alone for MPLC lesions (28 lesions) that were roentgenographically occult lung cancers. Among these 22 patients with MPLC including peripheral-type lung cancers, which were resected by surgery, all 39 CLELC lesions exhibited a complete response after PDT, and all patients were alive.
Conclusions: For patients with lung cancer with a long-term history of smoking, careful follow-up examinations after surgical resection are needed considering the incidence of metachronous primary lung cancers. PDT can play an important role for the treatment strategy for MPLC.