{"id":715732,"date":"2026-08-19T08:44:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=715732"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:44:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:44:36","slug":"what-is-photodynamic-therapy-pdt-appendicitis-abdominal-infections-715732","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-photodynamic-therapy-pdt-appendicitis-abdominal-infections-715732\/","title":{"rendered":"How light can fight abdominal infections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-embed-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is photodynamic therapy?\" width=\"1062\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C13isxbzVI0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A light-activated therapy being tested at URochester could give doctors an antibiotic-free way to target stubborn abdominal infections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":715772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42472],"tags":[18742,43272,18632,18652,42492,43102,43262,41012],"class_list":["post-715732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-medicine","tag-department-of-biomedical-engineering","tag-department-of-imaging-sciences","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-institute-of-optics","tag-medical-center","tag-research-impact-advances","tag-timothy-baran","tag-videos"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":true,"related":"show_related","style":[685522,714772,681232],"content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-0","title":"<h2>A light-activated therapy being tested at URochester could give doctors an antibiotic-free way to target stubborn abdominal infections.<\/h2>","content":"Antibiotics have transformed medicine, but they don\u2019t always work reliably. And as bacteria become increasingly resistant to such drugs, researchers are searching for new ways to treat infections.\r\n\r\nAt the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/\">糖心传媒<\/a>, one promising approach doesn\u2019t involve developing another antibiotic. It involves using light.\r\n\r\nBy combining a common blue dye with low-powered laser light, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112359996-timothy-m-baran\">Timothy Baran<\/a>, an assistant professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/imaging\">imaging sciences<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/bme\/\">biomedical engineering<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/optics\/\">optics<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/\">URochester Medicine<\/a>, and his colleagues are testing whether a treatment called photodynamic therapy can destroy bacteria inside the body without relying solely on antibiotics.\r\n<h3><strong>What is photodynamic therapy?<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_715972\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-715972\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fea-what-is-photodynamic-therapy-pdt-appendicitis-abdominal-infections-PDT_Machine_2000x1200_V1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of a photodynamic therapy machine next to two vials of methylene blue.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1200\" \/> <strong>TREATMENT AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT:<\/strong> \u201cPhotodynamic therapy is more or less instantaneous,\u201d Baran says. \u201cWe\u2019re targeting bacteria directly, so it can happen much faster.\u201d (URochester illustration \/ Jennifer Yoo)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) is a medical treatment that uses light to activate a light-sensitive drug called a photosensitizer. Once activated, the photosensitizer sets off a chemical reaction that produces highly reactive oxygen molecules capable of damaging or destroying the targeted cells.\r\n\r\nPDT has been used for decades to treat certain cancers, including some skin cancers, as well as other medical conditions. Baran and his colleagues are investigating how the same basic principle could be used to target bacteria and treat infections.\r\n\r\n\u201cPDT uses visible light to activate an otherwise harmless dye, letting us selectively kill bacteria,\u201d Baran says. \u201cThis approach is not specific to certain types of bacteria, making PDT more broadly applicable and less prone to resistance than conventional antibiotics.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>When PDT met an appendectomy<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nFor patients with perforated appendicitis, surgery removes the appendix, but it doesn\u2019t always eliminate the infection. Bacteria can remain trapped inside the abdomen, leading to persistent infection that can form abscesses. These swollen pockets of pus are difficult for antibiotics to completely clear\u2014and may even require complex drainage procedures, prolonged antibiotics, or even additional surgeries.\r\n\r\nBaran and his colleague <a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.ouhsc.edu\/directory\/details\/nicole-wilson-phd-md-facs\">Nicole Wilson<\/a>, now at the University of Oklahoma, wondered whether PDT could offer a better approach.\r\n\r\nPDT involves surgeons first delivering the drug methylene blue directly to the infected area. They can do this via the same port used during surgery or the catheter already in place to drain an abscess. The methylene blue is allowed to sit for about 20 minutes, giving bacteria\u2014including strains that are resistant to antibiotics\u2014time to absorb the dye.\r\n<blockquote>\u201cWe\u2019re looking not only at how we can make this work, but how we can mass deploy this.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nSurgeons then thread a thin fiber optic through the catheter and shine low-intensity red laser light onto the infected tissue. The light activates the methylene blue, triggering the chemical reaction that destroys nearby bacteria. Because the light only activates the dye, the healthy surrounding tissue is largely unaffected.\r\n\r\nThe treatment itself takes only a few minutes and has been shown in lab experiments to eliminate more than 99.9 percent of bacteria.\r\n\r\n\u201cAntibiotics can take days or weeks to have an effect, assuming they can get there in the first place,\u201d Baran says. \u201cPhotodynamic therapy is more or less instantaneous. We\u2019re targeting bacteria directly, so it can happen much faster.\u201d\r\n\r\nUnlike antibiotics, PDT attacks bacteria in a completely different way. That means PDT could become another tool for treating infections that are difficult, or even impossible, to treat with conventional antibiotics.\r\n<h3><strong>Putting PDT to the test with clinical trials<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_715782\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]<img class=\"wp-image-715782 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fea-what-is-photodynamic-therapy-pdt-appendicitis-abdominal-infections-clinical-trials-PDT_URMedicine_2000x1200_V1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of a pipette filling pools in a laboratory dish next to the University of Rochester Medicine logo.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1200\" \/> <strong>AB FAB:<\/strong> Baran and his team are among the first to evaluate photodynamic therapy in human clinical trials for abdominal infections. (URochester illustration \/ Jennifer Yoo)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPhotodynamic therapy itself isn\u2019t new. Baran and his team, however, are among the first to evaluate the approach in human clinical trials for abdominal infections. Baran works closely with physicians, interventional radiologists, and microbiologists across URochester and credits the collaborative environment for helping move the technology from the lab to patients.\r\n\r\n\u201cI have direct contact with clinicians who are also colleagues,\u201d Baran says. \u201cWe see each other routinely. This has allowed us to bridge that gap between fundamental research and the clinical space.\u201d\r\n\r\nRegular collaborators include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112359558-ashwani-kumar-sharma\">Ashwani Sharma<\/a>, an interventional radiologist at URochester Medicine, who serves as a clinical investigator on trials, and microbiologist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112358924-martin-pavelka\">Martin Pavelka<\/a>, a microbiologist who cultures patient samples to evaluate how well PDT eliminates bacteria.\r\n\r\nPromising lab results led Baran and his colleagues to test the approach in patients. In <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.rsna.org\/doi\/full\/10.1148\/radiol.232667\">a Phase 1 clinical trial<\/a>, their primary goal was to determine whether the treatment was safe. Patients reported that the procedure was not painful, and researchers saw early signs that PDT could help infections resolve quickly.\r\n\r\nThe FDA has now approved a Phase 2 clinical trial, where Baran and his team will evaluate PDT in a larger group of patients to better determine how well it works.\r\n<h3><strong>\u2018Another weapon in the arsenal\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAlthough the team\u2019s current clinical studies focus on applying PDT to abdominal infections, Baran sees opportunities to expand the technology much further. His lab has shown that <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41372491\/\">PDT can eliminate bacteria<\/a> in tissue samples collected from pediatric appendicitis patients, laying the groundwork for future pediatric studies. He also hopes to collaborate with breast surgeons at URochester Medicine to explore whether PDT could be used to treat breast abscesses.\r\n\r\nAnother goal is widespread adoption of the procedure. Most hospitals typically already have methylene blue since the drug is used to treat a common blood disorder. Baran and his team are investigating whether hospitals can also use existing equipment, including light sources such as bili lights\u2014which are used in neonatal intensive care units to treat jaundice\u2014for PDT treatments.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking not only at how we can make this work, but how we can mass deploy this rather than just having it be some niche thing that exists at a big medical center,\u201d Baran says.\r\n\r\nIf future clinical trials confirm PDT\u2019s effectiveness, Baran hopes the therapy could become another tool for treating infections at a time when antibiotic resistance is becoming an increasing global threat.\r\n\r\n\u201cAntibiotic resistance is becoming more and more common,\u201d Baran says. \u201cAntibiotics might not work as well in years to come, so photodynamic therapy is another weapon in the arsenal.\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - 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