Light-Emitting Woven Fabric for Treatment with Photodynamic Therapy and Monitoring of Actinic Keratosis

Abstract

A successful photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires a specific photosensitizer, oxygen and light of a specific wavelength and power. Today photodynamic therapy (PDT) is administered to patients with light-emitting diode (LED) panels. These panels deliver a non-uniform light distribution on the human body parts, as the complex human anatomy is not a flat surface (head vertex, hand, shoulder, etc.). For an efficient photodynamic therapy (PDT), a light-emitting fabric (LEF) was woven from plastic optical fibers (POF) aiming at the treatment of dermatologic diseases such as actinic keratosis (AK). Plastic optical fibers (POF) (Toray, PGR-FB250) have been woven in textile in order to create macro-bendings, and thus emit out the injected light directly to the skin. The light intensity and light-emitting homogeneity of the LEF were improved thanks to Doehlert Experimental Design. During the treatment with PDT, the photosensitizers were activated in the cancerous cells. These cells may be visualized, as they show a characteristic fluorescence under UV light, which is called fluorescence diagnosis (FD). Therefore, it is proposed to modify the developed LEF for PDT to measure the fluorescence amount. For this aim, a part of POFs was cut out to observe the quantity of light that could be collected while the LEF was connected to a light source. The first prototypes showed the possibility of the illumination with the same LEF without losing the efficiency but also imaging the collected light.

Photodynamic therapy with light emitting fabrics: a review

“…The satin weave has a harness number greater than 1 and is defined with the crossing points of the weave. Compared to the former two fundamental weaves, satin weave has a longer float which is why it is a great choice in fabrication of LEFs [16].…”

Textile-integrated polymer optical fibers for healthcare and medical applications

“…Conventional bulky lamps are eminently used in the current photodynamic therapy, but a wearable light source could be more advantageous. For instance, a more uniform illumination of target surfaces can be achieved with a light-emitting textile that well-conforms to various parts of the body [79,[158][159][160]. With this motivation, Oguz et al [159] presented a luminous fabric that was produced by weaving poly(methyl methacrylate)-based optical fibers (figure 23).…”

“…For instance, a more uniform illumination of target surfaces can be achieved with a light-emitting textile that well-conforms to various parts of the body [79,[158][159][160]. With this motivation, Oguz et al [159] presented a luminous fabric that was produced by weaving poly(methyl methacrylate)-based optical fibers (figure 23). The light emission was achieved by macrobending of polymer optical fibers in the interlaced configuration.…”