Active clinical trials for "Plasmacytoma"

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of blood, urine, and tissue from patients undergoing a donor stem cell transplant to test in the laboratory may help the study of graft-versus-host disease in the future. PURPOSE: This research study is collecting and storing tissue and DNA samples from patients undergoing a donor stem cell transplant.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors predict how patients will respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at blood samples from patients with multiple myeloma who were treated with thalidomide or lenalidomide.

RATIONALE: Light-emitting diode (LED) therapy may be able to prevent mucositis of the mouth. PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to determine the effectiveness of LED therapy in preventing mucositis of the mouth in children who are receiving chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy before donor bone marrow transplantation.

RATIONALE: Epoetin alfa and epoetin beta may cause the body to make more red blood cells. Red blood cells contain iron that is needed to carry oxygen to the tissues. It is not yet known whether epoetin alfa or epoetin beta are more effective when given with or without iron infusion in treating anemia in patients with cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying epoetin alfa or epoetin beta to compare how well they work with or without iron infusion in treating anemia in patients with cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumors from dividing so they stop growing or die. Chemoprotective drugs, such as amifostine, may protect normal cells from the side effects of chemotherapy. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of amifostine plus combination chemotherapy in treating patients with advanced cancer.

RATIONALE: Gathering information over time about patients' sense of being a burden on their caregiver, and caregivers' sense of burden on themselves, may help doctors learn more about the desire to die in patients with late-stage cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying perceptions of burden in patients with late-stage cancer and their caregivers.

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of blood from patients with cancer to test in the laboratory may help the study of cancer in the future. PURPOSE: This research study is collecting and storing blood samples from patients with cancer.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy and total-body irradiation before a donor umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer or abnormal cells. It also stops the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining cancer or abnormal cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil before the transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant works in treating patients with hematologic cancer or other disease.