@conference{10902/36413, year = {2008}, month = {11}, url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/36413}, abstract = {Medical endoscopy constitutes a basic device for the development of minimally invasive procedures for a wide range of medical applications, involving diagnosis, treatment and surgery, as well as biopsy sampling. Its minimally invasive nature results in no surgery, or only small incisions, which involves a minimal hospitalization time. The medical relevance of endoscopes relies on the fact that they are one of the most effective means of early stages of cancer diagnosis, with the subsequent improvement in the patient’s quality of life. Flexible endoscopy by means of coherent optical fiber bundles shows both flexibility and a high active area. However, the parallel arrangement of the fibers within the bundle produces interference phenomena between them, which results in optical crosstalk. As a consequence, there is a power exchange between contiguous fibers, producing a worsening in the contrast of the image. In this work, this quality limiting factor is deeply studied. We quantitatively analyze crosstalk, performing several studies that show the limitations imposed to the endoscopic system. Finally, we propose some solutions by an analytical method to accurately determine the appropriate optical fibers for each particular design. The method is also applied to endoscopic OCT.}, organization = {This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science by means of the project TEC2006-06548/TCM.}, publisher = {SPIE Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers}, publisher = {Proceedings of SPIE, 2008, 7138, 71380H}, publisher = {Photonics, Devices, and Systems IV, Prague, Czech Republic, 2008}, title = {Contrast limiting factors of optical fiber bundles for flexible endoscopy}, author = {Ortega Quijano, Noé and Arce Diego, José Luis and Fanjul Vélez, Félix}, }