Photodynamic therapy and detection of high-grade gliomas

The first reported use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of high-grade gliomas occurred in 1981. In the intervening years there have been relatively few clinical trials to investigate the efficacy of this therapeutic modality for the treatment of gliomas. This is due, in part, to the rarity of the disease, and the ever growing list of novel therapies that PDT must compete against. These factors make accrual of patients for clinical trials a difficult proposition. During the mid-1990s, a number of reviews were published that effectively summarized the status of PDT for the management of high-grade gliomas. The intent of the present work is to provide an update of recent developments (1996-2004) in PDT and photodynamic detection (PDD) of gliomas, in particular, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and anaplastic astrocytoma (AA).