rtr5998

Photodynamic Therapy • A laser treatment option for oral and throat cancers
• http://www.umm.edu/pdt

Subject: PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY FOR CANCER/BARRETTS ESOPHAGUS

I have, for years, had Barretts esophagus. In May of 1997 I was diagnosed as
having cancer of the esophagus. Prior to this (IN THE LATE 70'S) I was lucky
to have met a man at the VA Hospital in Little Rock; Dr. Patel warned me
about Barretts . This was back in the late 70's. I had a fundolication (stomach
wrap) at VA Little Rock, Arkansas. This was before the real good medicines
they have now. Then the only thing to do for this condition was antacids and
wrapping the esophagus around the stomach to physically prevent acid reflex.
Thats what usually causes Barrette and/or Cancer of the esophagus.

Dr. Patel was adamant that I have another operation somewhere else. But
where?I have a brother who is Chief of Pharmacy at a large VA hospital. I
asked him to find the best surgeon in the country. He found Dr. David Skinner
then at the University of Chicago. In 1983 Dr. Skinner operated and this
operation
holds This may have saved my life because it bought time for me while
luckily the PDT technology came along plus the new medication they have now.
Dr. Skinner is currently at Columbia University in Manhattan.

To make a long story short; after I was diagnosed as having cancer and after
exhaustive research; I went to Dr. Bergin F.Overholt in Knoxville, Tennessee.

There I was treated with Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). As of this writing I am
cancer free and the Barretts is gone. I remained cancer free for three years.

About a year ago Dr. Overholt found another cancer. It was a surface cancer
near the spot where the first cancer was found. Dr. Overholt again did PDT.
This time two PDT treatments on separate days. Upon his last exam; I am again
cancer free.

UPDATE: I just returned from Knoxville where Dr. Overholt found no cancer as
of 11 December 2000.

UPDATE: I returned from Knoxville where Dr. Overholt found no cancer as of 13
March 2003.

PDT will usually get surface cancers and eleminate Barretts Esophagus.

Kindest Regards. Tony Rogers

j

he's so excited that he keeps coming back and telling us, so I'm snipping names
/adverti*****ts.
Sure wish he'd not SHOUT at us. (it's trollish/newbieish/attention-getting
tactic..and it worked for me)

So let's try to logic this one through.
As far as I know, to confirm or detect esophageal cancer, they go in via an upper
GI scope and if they see suspicious tissue, they remove it and send it to the lab
for ****ysis, while a person is still under sedative and hypotic
If it's deep or a frank tumor, they still take a sample, but would then (I think)
let the patient wake up and Stage the cancer..do other tests to find out if it has
spread, then decide on the appropriate treatment, whether surgery and/or chemo or
radiation.

So for surface esophageal lesions, what's the point of having a GI scope, getting
woke up, then going for a different and probably expensive and hard to find
procedure?

NCI does mention this type of treatment as a separate section (from the esophageal
information)

http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancerinfo/types/esophageal/
The National Cancer Institute and other institutions are supporting clinical trials
(research studies) to evaluate the use of photodynamic therapy for several types of
cancer, including cancers of the bladder, brain, larynx, and oral cavity.
Researchers are also looking at different laser types, photosensitizers that can be
applied to the skin to treat superficial skin cancers, and new photosensitizing
agents that may increase the effectiveness of PDT against cancers that are located
further below the skin or inside an organ. []

So if you're interested, there's apparently clinical trials.
FWIW

J - not an expert