Pre-clinic study of uniformity of light blanket for intraoperative photodynamic therapy.

A large-size blanket composed of the parallel catheters and silica core side glowing fiber is designed to substitute the hand-held point source in the photodynamic therapy treatment (PDT) of the malignant pleural or intraperitoneal diseases. It produces a reasonably uniform field for effective light coverage and is flexible to conform to anatomic structures in intraoperative PDT. The size of the blanket is 30cm×20cm. The light blanket composed of several PVC layers and a series of parallel catheters attached on both sides of the intralipid layer of 0.2% concentration. On one side of the intralipid layer, the parallel fiber catheters were attached using thermal sealing technique. On the other side, the parallel detect catheters were attached along the perpendicular direction. 0.1mm aluminum foil was used to construct the reflection layer to enhance the efficiency of light delivery. The long single side-glowing fiber goes through the fiber catheters according to the specific fiber pattern design. Compared with the prototype of the first generation, the new design is more cost-efficient and more applicable for clinical applications. The light distribution of the blanket was characterized by scanning experiments which were performed in flatness and on the curved surface of tissue body phantom. The fluence rate generated by the blanket can meet requirements for the light delivery in pleural or intraperitoneal (IP) PDT. Taking the advantage of large coverage and flexible conformity, it has great value to increase the reliability and consistency of PDT.