Feasibility of multimodal multiphoton microscopy to facilitate surgical margin assessment in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a common cancer with poor odds of survival for the patient, with surgical resection offering the only hope of cure. Current surgical practice is time-consuming and, due to time constraints, does not sample the whole cut surface sufficiently to check for remaining cancer. Although microscopy with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain is the gold standard for microscopic evaluation, multiphoton microscopy (MPM) has emerged as an alternative tool for imaging tissue architecture and cellular morphology without labels. We explored the use of multimodal MPM for the label-free identification of normal and cancerous tissue of the pancreas in a mouse model by comparing the images to H&E microscopy. Our early studies indicate that MPM using second-harmonic generation, third-harmonic generation, and multiphoton excitation of endogenous fluorescent proteins can each contribute to the label-free analysis of the pancreatic surgical margin.

Label‐free detection of invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast using multiphoton microscopy

“…MPM not only has the advantage of resolution comparable to digital histopathology, but also has the advantages of label-free, low photobleaching and photodamage, and a high imaging contrast. Therefore, MPM has been receiving a lot of attention in the field of basic and applied research in medical pathology diagnosis, especially in the clinical translation of tumor pathological diagnosis [40][41][42][43]. In this study, our results demonstrate that MPM can be used to detect the different morphologies of IMPC cell clusters, and to identify stromal pathological changes in tumor microenvironment such as collagen changes, TILs, lymphatic vascular invasion.…”

Label-free three photon micro-endoscope

“…Early cancer diagnosis is crucial for an effective treatment, however conventional diagnosis is done through several steps including tissue resection, sectioning and staining which is time consuming. An option for label free imaging is to use multiphoton imaging [1][2][3]. To apply it for real time in-vivo imaging, the bulky microscopy optics need to be integrated in a miniature fiber-based flexible endoscope [4,5].…”

Identification of perineural invasion in pancreatic cancer using multiphoton microscopy

“…It can identify the intrinsic chemical components of biological tissues at the molecular level and perform high-resolution imaging of biological tissues without the use of an exogenous contrast agent [10]. Interestingly, MPM has been used for the identification of pancreatic cancer [11]. Therefore, in this context, we aim to assess whether MPM can be used to identify PNI in pancreatic cancer.…”