Endoscopic Cerenkov luminescence imaging and image-guided tumor resection on hepatocellular carcinoma-bearing mouse models.

Detecting deep tumors inside living subject is still challenging for Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI). In this study, a high-sensitivity endoscopic CLI (ECLI) system was developed with a dual-mode deep cooling approach to improve the imaging sensitivity. System was characterized through a series of ex vivo studies. Furthermore, subcutaneous and orthotropic human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mouse models were established for ECLI guided tumor resection in vivo. The results showed that the ECLI system had spatial resolution (62.5 μm) and imaging sensitivity (6.29 × 10⁻² kBq/μl ¹⁸F-FDG). The in vivo experimental data from the HCC mouse models demonstrated that the system was effective to intraoperatively guide the surgery of deep tumors such as liver cancer. Overall, the developed system exhibits promising potential for the applications of tumor precise resection and novel nanoprobe based optical imaging. Intraoperative guidance by optical imaging significantly promotes the achievement of precise tumor surgery. A high-sensitivity imaging system was developed for endoscopic Cerenkov luminescence imaging (ECLI). By employing the clinical radiopharmaceutical and clinical device, the deep liver tumors were detected and visualized intraoperatively. Clear ECLI optical signals were observed in the tumor location where the radiopharmaceutical was aggregated. Tumor boundaries were also delineated clearly. In vivo ECLI technique showed high potential for clinical translation and believed promising for intraoperative imaging with novel nanoprobes. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]