Development of a system to treat and online monitor photodynamic therapy of skin cancer using PpIX near-infrared fluorescence

The limited adoption of photodynamic therapy (PDT) around the medical field may be tied to the unpredicted treatment response that an unmonitored therapy could deliver. Given the high variability in the lesions optical and physiological parameters, it is of fundamental importance to monitor PDT, since different lesions require different therapeutic parameters. We developed a system to treat and online monitor PDT of skin cancer, using protoporphyrin-IX (PpIX) near-infrared fluorescence imaging. The system can be operated up to 150 mW/cm(2) at 633 nm, with real-time fluorescence monitoring around 700 nm, using the treatment light itself for fluorescence excitation. This technology allows system portability, simplicity, and low cost. This study describes the system development and its comparison with a 400-450 nm commercial system to detect the PpIX fluorescence during a PDT in murine skin cancer model. The developed device was able to acquire considerably more fluorescence signal from deeper regions when compared to the violet excitation device.