Photodynamic Therapy in Treating Patients With Precancerous Esophageal Conditions or Early Stage Esophageal Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed high-grade dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, or early intramucosal adenocarcinoma of the esophagus Stage 0 or N0, M0 primary or recurrent disease Diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus Ineligible for or refused surgical resection Requires endoscopy PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age 18 and over Performance status Karnofsky 50-100% Life expectancy Not specified Hematopoietic WBC ≥ 4,000/mm^3 Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3 PT ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) Hepatic Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 3 times ULN ALT ≤ 3 times ULN Renal Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL Other Not pregnant or nursing Negative pregnancy test Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after completion of study treatment No contraindication to endoscopy No other malignancy except nonmelanoma skin cancer or another cancer for which patient is deemed disease-free No porphyria or hypersensitivity to porphyrin or porphyrin-like compounds PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Chemotherapy At least 1 month since prior chemotherapy No concurrent chemotherapy Radiotherapy At least 1 month since prior radiotherapy No concurrent radiotherapy Surgery See Disease Characteristics Other At least 1 month since prior Nd-YAG laser therapy At least 4 weeks since prior therapy for this disease