thesis
Endovascular photodynamic therapy to prevent arterial restenosis
- Publication date
- 1 January 2003
- Publisher
- __Abstract__
Since their existence, man has appreciated the benefits of sunlight and described some of
its medicinal effects known as heliotherapy. Herodotus in the 6th century BC noticed that
sunlight had beneficial effects on bone growth. Hippocrates in 460-375 BC advocated the use of
heliotherapy for various human maladies [1]. In 1898, McCall-Anderson described skin
photosensitivity due to porphyrin molecules [2]. In 1900, Raab using acridine orange described a
photochemical action that led to the killing of protozoa [3]. In 1901, the Dane Niels Rydberg
Finsen described the first scientific experiment in animals designated as phototherapy using light
from a carbon arc. Phototherapy was defined as the use of visible or near-visible light in the
treatment of disease [4]. He noticed that the use of ultraviolet light improved wound healing in
smallpox in animals and lupus vulgaris in men. These studies were appreciated with naming a
Medical Light Institute after him in Copenhagen and by awarding him the Nobel Prize for
Physiology-Medicine in 1903. The Danish Queen Alexandra introduced the technique into the
London Hospital in Whitechapel (now the Royal London Hospital) in 1904.
