ReviewThe Lancet. Infectious diseases2017
Photoantimicrobials-are we afraid of the light?
Review in The Lancet. Infectious diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03380403 (A Clinical Trial Testing the Efficacy of PDT in Preventing Amputation in Diabetic Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 254 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Clinical Trial Testing the Efficacy of PDT in Preventing Amputation in Diabetic Patients
Who cites it
254 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy mediated by phenothiazine photosensitizers against Candida albicans and Candida auris: a systematic review.Lasers in medical science · 2026Pooled it
- Novel biofilm-targeted therapeutics for oral infections: enzymes, EPS disruptors, phage/CRISPR, photodynamic and cold-plasma approaches - a systematic review.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Gingival crevicular fluid level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha as a valuable biomarker for estimation of the efficacy of adjunctive antimicrobial photodynamic therapy in stage II-IV periodontitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lasers in medical science · 2024Pooled it
- Methylene blue in anticancer photodynamic therapy: systematic review of preclinical studies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Clinical attachment loss in the use of adjunctive antimicrobial photodynamic therapy in Stages II-IV Grade C molar-incisor periodontitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Bosnian journal of basic medical sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Photodynamic anti-biofilm PHEMA/Rose Bengal hydrogels enhanced by iodide: evidence for hydrogen peroxide and triiodide formation.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial Strategies in the Era of Resistance: It Is Too Early to Give Up Antibiotic Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Resveratrol-loaded human dental pulp stem cell-derived exosomes enhance the efficacy of blue LED-mediated antimicrobial photodynamic therapy against mature cariogenic biofilms.Lasers in medical science · 2026Article
- From surgical debridement to laser-guided bone repair: An integrative approach to mandibular osteomyelitis.Radiology case reports · 2026Article
- Recent Advances in Zinc(II)-Complexes for Antibacterial Photodynamic Therapy.Chemistry, an Asian journal · 2026Review
- The Influence of the Central Metal (Zn) in the Porphyrin Skeleton on the Mechanism Induced by Photodynamic Therapy.Cancers · 2026Review
- Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy reprograms resistance by inducing sensitization in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2026Article
- Covalently Immobilized Lignin-Xanthene Conjugates for Persistent Surface Photochemistry and Self-Sterilizing Interfaces Under Ambient Visible Light.Macromolecular rapid communications · 2026Article
- From Simulation to Therapy: Light Guidance Through Zirconium Dental Implants for Bone-Targeted Photodynamic Inactivation.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Advances in BODIPY Derivatives for Antibacterial Phototherapy.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- Synthesis of Ag/TiOScientific reports · 2026Article
- Enhancing the Antimicrobial Photodynamic Activity of Heteroleptic Ruthenium(II) Complexes: Role of AsymmetricInorganic chemistry · 2026Article
- An in vitro comparison of cold atmospheric plasma and methylene blue-mediated antimicrobial photodynamic therapy with 660 nm laser on Streptococcus mutans biofilms.Lasers in medical science · 2026Article
- Review
- Self-Regulated ROS Nanoplatform Enables Sequential Antibacterial Therapy and Inflammation Resolution in Periodontitis.ACS omega · 2026Article
194 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Although conventional antimicrobial drugs have been viewed as miraculous cure-alls for the past 80 years, increasing antimicrobial drug resistance requires a major and rapid intervention. However, the development of novel but still conventional systemic antimicrobial agents, having only a single mode or site of action, will not alleviate the situation because it is probably only a matter of time until any such agents will also become ineffective. To continue to produce new agents based on this notion is unacceptable, and there is an increasing need for alternative approaches to the problem. By contrast, light-activated molecules called photoantimicrobials act locally via the in-situ production of highly reactive oxygen species, which simultaneously attack various biomolecular sites in the pathogenic target and therefore offer both multiple and variable sites of action. This non-specificity at the target circumvents conventional mechanisms of resistance and inhibits the development of resistance to the agents themselves. Photoantimicrobial therapy is safe and easy to implement and, unlike conventional agents, the activity spectrum of photoantimicrobials covers bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. However, clinical trials of these new, truly broad-spectrum, and minimally toxic agents have been few, and the funding for research and development is almost non-existent. Photoantimicrobials constitute one of the few ways forward through the morass of drug-resistant infectious disease and should be fully explored. In this Personal View, we raise awareness of the novel photoantimicrobial technologies that offer a viable alternative to conventional drugs in many relevant application fields, and could thus slow the pace of resistance development.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.