Many current light diffusers for photodynamic therapy are inflexible, and the applied light dose is difficult to adjust during treatment, especially on complex body surfaces. A thin and flexible luminous textile is developed using plastic optical fibers as a light distributor. The textile diffuser is evaluated for flexibility, irradiance, brightness distribution, and temperature rise with a 652-nm laser set to 100 mW. The bending force of the textile diffuser resembles a defined optical film.

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... the textile surface, an average output power of 3.6± 0.6 mW/ cm 2 is measured, corresponding to a transmission rate of 40± 3.8% on an area of 11 cm 2 . Aluminum backing enhances the irradiance to the face ͑treatment side͒. The measured brightness distribution seems to lie within a range similar to other photodynamic therapy ͑PDT͒ devices. A power setting of 100 mW increases the temperature of the textile diffuser surface of up to 27°C, and 1Wraises the temperature above 40°C. Results confirm that the flexible textile diffuser supplies suitable radiation for low fluence rate photodynamic therapy on an area of several cm 2 .