Scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and the First Moscow State Medical University named after I.М. Sechenov was proposed a new effective method for the diagnosis and treatment of a precancerous condition of the cervix. According to the authors, the effectiveness of the method was confirmed in all patients who took part in the study. The results were published in the journal Laser Physics Letters.
Treatment of cervical cancer is an urgent problem of gynecological oncology. Widespread modern diagnosing methods most often involve surgical intervention. For example, in some cases, taking a sample for biopsy can be accompanied by undesirable phenomena and lead to dangerous consequences - uterine bleeding, noted the researchers
Proposed by MEPhI and MGMU named after I.M. Sechenov scientists, methods of fluorescence diagnostics allow you to receive information about the state of tissues without affecting the biological processes occurring in them.
In fluorescence diagnostics and photodynamic therapy (PDT), a photosensitizer (light-sensitive substance) is put into the human blood. Tumor cells are able to accumulate such substances in much larger quantities than healthy cells. After a while, most of the photosensitizer leaves healthy cells but remains in cancerous cells. Just then, the tumor is exposed to laser radiation of a certain wavelength.
“The chlorine-type photosensitizer absorbs radiation and produces reactive oxygen, which destroys nearby cancer cells and can damage blood vessels, preventing cancer cells from getting the nutrients they need. In turn, the glow that occurs when the photosensitizer is excited by a laser is recorded using spectral and video fluorescence methods. It allows you to accurately determine the boundaries of the tumor” noted Polina Alekseeva, postgraduate student of the Institute of Laser and Plasma Technologies of MEPhI.
She also noted that spectral-fluorescent diagnostics of cervical neoplasms makes it possible to control the whole process at all stages. As a result of a clinical study conducted by scientists together with surgeons, all patients with morphologically confirmed diagnoses of "leukoplakia" (thickening and keratinization of the epithelium) and "cervical dysplasia" (a precancerous condition) were successfully treated with PDT.
"Ten patients with morphologically confirmed diagnoses of leukoplakia and cervical dysplasia took part in the study. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the L.L. Levshin Institute of Cluster Oncology," said the head of the study, Professor of the Engineering Physics Institute biomedicine MEPhI Victor Loschenov.
After three months, complete regression of the altered tissues (absence of tumor cells) was recorded in all patients.
According to the results of the study, it confirmed that the use of this method contributes to the destruction of the human papillomavirus and allows maintaining the normal physiological structure of the cervix, which is especially important for women planning a pregnancy.
MEPhI research team is going to improve the method of photodynamic therapy in order to change treatment tactics and avoid under-exposure or over-exposure, which could lead to relapses.
Source: RIA Novosti
