The use of optical technology to monitor the antiangiogenic effects of gefitinib treatment for advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a brief report

Excerpt

Antiangiogenic treatment is not specific and has a systemic effect. It may be hypothesized that its main effect will be on newly forming tumour vasculature. However, other areas of capillary turnover such as the heart, lungs, skin and gastrointestinal mucosa are also affected. This is evident in the side-effect and complication profile of treatment, i.e. ischaemic heart disease, rashes and mucosal breakdown. Apart from serum assays (of systemic availability) it is difficult to monitor the early functional consequences of treatment. It is logical that detailed surveillance of a readily accessible capillary bed may give an indication of general antiangiogenic activity making it possible to perhaps correlate peripheral antiangiogenic activity with outcome of treatment to optimize dosage and schedule to help minimize side effects whilst maximizing therapeutic benefit. …