Photodynamic Therapy in Treating Patients With Lymphoma or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 1969-12-31
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Photodynamic therapy uses light and drugs that make cancer cells more sensitive to light to kill cancer cells. Photosensitizing drugs such as aminolevulinic acid are absorbed by cancer cells and, when exposed to light, become active and kill the cancer cells.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to study the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy using aminolevulinic acid in treating patients who have cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma, or early chronic lymphocytic leukemia involving the skin.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
• Collaborator: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Treatments: Aminolevulinic Acid

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• One of the following histologically confirmed diagnoses:

• Cutaneous B-cell or T-cell lymphoma confined to the skin

• No evidence of internal disease other than peripheral adenopathy

• Early chronic lymphocytic leukemia with cutaneous B-cell infiltrates not requiring systemic therapy

• Stable or slowly progressive disease that is not expected to substantially change during treatment

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• Not specified

Performance status

• Not specified

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Not specified

Hepatic

• Not specified

Renal

• Not specified

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing

• No porphyria or known hypersensitivity to porphyrins

• No known photosensitivity diseases

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Concurrent clinically necessary interferon alfa allowed

Chemotherapy

• No concurrent systemic multiagent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• No concurrent local radiotherapy to study lesions

• No concurrent whole body radiotherapy

Surgery

• Not specified

Other

• More than 1 month since prior topical therapy to study lesions

• Concurrent topical therapy to non-study lesions allowed