Detection of postoperative granulation tissue with an ICG-enhanced integrated OI-/X-ray System

Application of biomaterials in periodontal tissue repair and reconstruction in the presence of inflammation under periodontitis through the foreign body response: Recent progress and perspectives

Periodontitis would cause dental tissue damage locally. Biomaterials substantially affect the surrounding immune microenvironment through treatment-oriented local inflammatory remodeling in dental periodontitis. This remodeling process is conducive to wound healing and periodontal tissue regeneration. Recent progress in understanding the foreign body response (FBR) and immune regulation, including cell heterogeneity, and cell-cell and cell-material interactions, has provided new insights into the design criteria for biomaterials applied in treatment of periodontitis. This review discusses recent progress and perspectives in the immune regulation effects of biomaterials to augment or reconstruct soft and hard tissue in an inflammatory microenvironment of periodontitis.

Alk5 inhibition increases delivery of macromolecular and protein-bound contrast agents to tumors

Limited transendothelial permeability across tumor microvessels represents a significant bottleneck in the development of tumor-specific diagnostic agents and theranostic drugs. Here, we show an approach to increase transendothelial permeability of macromolecular and nanoparticle-based contrast agents via inhibition of the type I TGF-β receptor, activin-like kinase 5 (Alk5), in tumors. Alk5 inhibition significantly increased tumor contrast agent delivery and enhancement on imaging studies, while healthy organs remained relatively unaffected. Imaging data correlated with significantly decreased tumor interstitial fluid pressure, while tumor vascular density remained unchanged. This immediately clinically translatable concept involving Alk5 inhibitor pretreatment prior to an imaging study could be leveraged for improved tumor delivery of macromolecular and nanoparticle-based imaging probes and, thereby, facilitate development of more sensitive imaging tests for cancer diagnosis, enhanced tumor characterization, and personalized, image-guided therapies.

Indocyanine green delivery systems for tumour detection and treatments

Indocyanine green (ICG) is a cyanine compound that displays fluorescent properties in the near infrared region. This dye is employed for numerous indications but nowadays its major application field regards tumour diagnosis and treatments. Optical imaging by near infrared fluorescence provides news opportunities for oncologic surgery. The imaging of ICG can be useful for intraoperative identification of several solid tumours and metastases, and sentinel lymph node detection. In addition, ICG can be used as an agent for the destruction of malignant tissue, by virtue of the production of reactive oxygen species and/or induction of a hyperthermia effect under irradiation. Nevertheless, ICG shows several drawbacks, which limit its clinical application. Several formulative strategies have been studied to overcome these problems. The rationale of the development of ICG containing drug delivery systems is to enhance the in vivo stability and biodistribution profile of this dye, allowing tumour accumulation and resulting in better efficacy. In this review, ICG containing nano-sized carriers are classified based on their chemical composition and structure. In addition to nanosystems, different formulations including hydrogel, microsystems and others loaded with ICG will be illustrated. In particular, this report describes the preparation, in vitro characterization and in vivo application of ICG platforms for cancer imaging and treatment. The promising results of all systems confirm their clinical utility but further studies are required prior to evaluating the formulations in human trials.

Saccharide substituted zinc phthalocyanines: optical properties, interaction with bovine serum albumin and near infrared fluorescence imaging for sentinel lymph nodes

Saccharide-substituted zinc phthalocyanines, [2,9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis((1-(β-d-glucose-2-yl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) and [2,9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis((1-(β-d-lactose-2-yl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II), were evaluated as novel near infrared fluorescence agents. Their interaction with bovine serum albumin was investigated by fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry. Near infrared imaging for sentinel lymph nodes in vivo was performed using nude mice as models. Results show that saccharide- substituted zinc phthalocyanines have favourable water solubility, good optical stability and high emission ability in the near infrared region. The interaction of lactose-substituted phthalocyanine with bovine serum albumin displays obvious differences to that of glucose- substituted phthalocyanine. Moreover, lactose-substituted phthalocyanine possesses obvious imaging effects for sentinel lymph nodes in vivo.

A review of indocyanine green fluorescent imaging in surgery

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the recent surgical intraoperational applications of indocyanine green fluorescence imaging methods, the basics of the technology, and instrumentation used. Well over 200 papers describing this technique in clinical setting are reviewed. In addition to the surgical applications, other recent medical applications of ICG are briefly examined.

Intraoperative use of indocyanine green fluorescence videography for resection of a spinal cord hemangioblastoma

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE

Indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence videography has been recently applied to the neurosurgical field, mostly in the management of cerebral aneurysms, but has had limited description in the subspecialty of spine or oncological neurosurgery. We describe a novel application of this previously defined surgical tool to assist in the resection of a residual spinal cord hemangioblastoma.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION

Our patient is a 49-year-old woman with a residual symptomatic cervical hemangioblastoma that was previously embolized and resected at another institution. After initial symptomatic improvement, she returned with progressive symptoms, increasing radiographic spinal cord edema, and a residual lesion at the level of C1. We resected the remaining tumor with the adjuvant use of ICG fluorescence videography. Intraoperative injection of ICG clearly identified a component of the tumor underlying adhesive, opaque arachnoid that was not visualized by direct microscopy. Immediate postresection ICG videography suggested a complete resection was achieved which was later corroborated by postoperative magnetic resonance imaging.

CONCLUSION

The adjuvant use of ICG videography is a useful surgical tool that permits greater visualization of the complete extent of the lesion, particularly in managing recurrent or residual lesions obscured by adhesions.

Indocyanine green-enhanced imaging of antigen-induced arthritis with an integrated optical imaging/radiography system

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate a combined indocyanine green-enhanced optical imaging/radiography system for the detection of arthritic joints in a rat model of antigen-induced arthritis.

METHODS

Arthritis of the knee and ankle joints was induced in 6 Harlan rats, using peptidoglycan-polysaccharide polymers. Three rats served as untreated controls. Optical imaging of the knee and ankle joints was done with an integrated optical imaging/radiography system before and up to 24 hours following intravenous injection of 10 mg/kg indocyanine green. The fluorescence signal intensities of arthritic and normal joints were compared for significant differences, using generalized estimating equation models. Specimens of knee and ankle joints were further processed and evaluated by histology.

RESULTS

Immediately after administration, indocyanine green provided a significant increase in the fluorescence signal of arthritic joints compared with baseline values (P < 0.05). The fluorescence signal of arthritic joints was significantly higher compared with that of nonarthritic control joints at 1-720 minutes after intravenous injection (P < 0.05). Fusion of indocyanine green-enhanced optical imaging and radiography allowed for anatomic coregistration of the inflamed tissue with the associated joint. Hematoxylin and eosin staining confirmed marked synovial inflammation of arthritic joints and the absence of inflammation in control joints.

CONCLUSION

Indocyanine green-enhanced optical imaging is a clinically applicable tool for detection of arthritic tissue. Using relatively high doses of indocyanine green, long-term enhanced fluorescence of arthritic joints can be achieved. This may facilitate simultaneous evaluations of multiple joints in a clinical setting. Fusion of indocyanine green-enhanced optical imaging scans with radiography increases anatomic resolution.

Monitoring of natural killer cell immunotherapy using noninvasive imaging modalities

Cancer immunotherapies can be guided by cellular imaging techniques, which can identify the presence or absence of immune cell accumulation in the tumor tissue in vivo and in real time. This review summarizes various new and evolving imaging techniques employed for tracking and monitoring of adoptive natural killer cell immunotherapies.