Two-photon excitation fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy: A promising diagnostic tool for digestive tract tumors

• Main Authors: Hui Li, Jia Yu, Rongli Zhang, Xi Li, Wei Zheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: World Scientific Publishing 2019-09-01
• Series: Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences
• Subjects: Two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy; fluorescence lifetime; fluorescence spectrum; digestive tract tumor diagnosis; autofluorescence
• Online Access: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/S179354581930009X

Digestive tract tumors account for 15% and 19.3% of the cancer incidence and deaths, respectively. Early detection of digestive tract tumors is crucial to the reduction of global cancer burden. Two-photon excitation fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (TP-FLIM) allows non-invasive, label-free, three-dimensional, high-resolution imaging of living tissues with not only histological but also biochemical characterization ability in both qualitative and quantitative way. Benefiting from these advantages, this technology is promising for clinical diagnosis of digestive tract tumors. In recent years, many efforts have been made in this field and some remarkable progress has been achieved. In this paper, we overview the recent progress of TP-FLIM-based researches on digestive tract tumor detection. Among them, our latest results on the gastric cancer and esophageal cancer are elaborately depicted. Finally, we outlook and discuss the potential advantages and challenges of TP-FLIM in future clinical applications.