Predictive analysis of superficial fluorescence patterns in non-melanoma skin cancer during photodynamic therapy.

Non-invasive treatment monitoring is one of the key elements to assess the photosensitizer activation during the photochemical process underlying Photodynamic Therapy (TFD) by its fluorescence. Furthermore the photosensitizer fluorescence can be employed to discriminate the pathological tissue from the healthy one. In this work the superficial fluorescence patterns in three different types of nonmelanoma skin cancer tumors and their photodynamic treatment response are analysed by a fluorescence based dosimetric model for PDT with topical MAL-PpIX. Results show differences of even more than 50% in the fluorescence patterns as the treatment progresses depending on the malignant tissue type. They demonstrate the great relevance of the biological media as an additional dosimetric factor within the photodynamic context. These results contribute to the development of a future customized therapy with the assistance of dosimetric tools to interpret the fluorescence images obtained during the treatment monitoring as well as in differential photodiagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]