Use of ALA and ALA derivatives for optimizing ALA-based photodynamic therapy: a review of our experience.

5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-based PDT has been gaining increased attention in the last ten years, and become an approved treatment modality for some cancers and other diseases. Different approaches to enhance this therapeutic modality are in progress, including the development of several drug delivery systems and the use of more lipophilic ALA derivatives. This paper focuses on our experience in this field.