Twenty four hours before surgery the patient will receive an intravenous injection of Photobac®. This will make the brain tumor sensitive to light. Lighting up the brain using a low power near infrared laser will kill cells that contain Photobac®.~Photobac® crosses the blood brain barrier. Compared to the brain at 24 hours after injection, the tumor holds significantly more Photobac®. This Selective retention by tumors is the reason PDT has proved a valuable weapon against other types of tumors.~Once the surgeon has removed the tumor as completely as possible, the brain that bordered the tumor will be illuminated with near infrared light from a low power laser. This will destroy tumor cells hiding deep in the brain. Such cells cause tumor recurrence.~The light treatment will add about one hour to the surgery. The Patient will be asleep during this procedure. The patient will receive standard post-surgical care during recovery.
This study is the first step in testing the hypothesis that adding Photobac® Photodynamic Therapy to surgical removal of a glioblastoma or gliosarcoma will be both safe and effective.~Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) combines light and a photosensitizer. PDT has been used to treat a variety of cancers with varying degrees of success.~For the past thirty years Photolitec has been working to develop a treatment for glioblastoma or gliosarcoma using light and a photosensitizer. Photolitec's scientists were looking for a photosensitizer that:~has no significant systemic toxicity apart from some temporary skin photosensitivity,~crosses the blood brain barrier,~accumulates to a high level in glioblastoma and minimally in the brain,~is activated by the wavelength of light that penetrates most deeply into the brain,~minimizes any temporary skin photosensitivity.~Preliminary testing indicates the Photolitec team has achieved these five goals. Photolitec is now able to offer a clinical trial based on the results of this work.