Performance evaluation of cylindrical fiber optic light diffusers for biomedical applications.

摘要

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dosimetry for intracavity and interstitial light delivery requires next to the knowledge of tissue optical properties and models describing light propagation in tissue also exact knowledge of the spatial light source emission characteristics. However, the emission characteristics of cylindrical diffusers are often ill defined by the manufacturer, and not regularly determined by the end user, thus limiting the attainable dosimetry accuracy. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: Commercial cylindrical diffusers, with active diffusive lengths of 1-2 cm and outer diameters of