Clinical Practice

Intensive care medicine

Photodynamic therapy

Materials science

Guideline

Medical physics

Computer science

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Physical therapy

Photothermal therapy

Internal medicine

Cancer therapy

Medicine

Chemistry

Cancer

Pathology

Cancer treatment

Advanced Science

Phototherapy such as photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment has been developed quickly over the past few years for its noninvasive nature and high efficiency. However, there are still many drawbacks in phototherapy that prevent it from clinical applications. Thus, scientists have designed different systems to overcome the issues associated with phototherapy, including enhancing the targeting ability of phototherapy, low-temperature photothermal therapy, replacing near-infrared light with other excitation sources, and so on. This article discusses the problems and shortcomings encountered in the development of phototherapy and highlights possible solutions to address them so that phototherapy may become a useful cancer treatment approach in clinical practice. This article aims to give a brief summary about current research advancements in phototherapy research and provides a quick guideline toward future developments in the field.

Solutions to the Drawbacks of Photothermal and Photodynamic Cancer Therapy