Flash Photodynamic Therapy - How the Saturation of Photosensitizer Absorption Enables Selective and Deeper Tumor Treatments.

ABSTRACT: FLASH therapies are attracting tremendous interest because they spare normal tissues while maintaining tumor-destroying efficacy, when compared with continuous delivery of radiation. In Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), it has been noted that continuous-wave and pulsed lasers give comparable results for a variety of tumors, but the conditions for increased tumor-to-peritumoral tissue selectivity have never been reported. This work presents a model that explains how pulsed lasers, in combination with photosensitizers, can offer selective and in-depth tumor ablation. It is shown that the photosensitizer absorption must be saturated to obtain the FLASH effect. The importance of the number of laser pulses to destroy tumor tissue and spare normal tissue is demonstrated. The predictions of the model a

SUBMITTER: Arnaut LG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12767129 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature