Photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) in the treatment of pathological states of the cornea

Each year an increasing amount of research is published on the use of photodynamic therapy in medicine. The most recent research has focused mostly on the use of photosensitizer called vertoporphyrin (Visudyne) is the treatment of subretinal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or myopia, following a substantial amount of ophthalmology research mostly experimental on the application of the method in diagnosis and treatment of some eye tumors. In the Department of Ophthalmology of Polish Medical University in Warsaw, PDT was used as supplementary method in a selected group of patients with chronic virus ulcer of the cornea and keratopathies. During the treatment 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) was applied in ointment form as a photosensitizer activated with light wave of 633 nm. It appears, on the basis of the results obtained, that photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) may become in the future a valuable supplement to the methods being used at the present treating pathological states of the cornea.