We devised a multimodal planar imaging system for in vivo mouse imaging, employing four modalities: optical imaging, green and red fluorescence reflectance imaging, radionuclide imaging and X-ray radiography. We are testing separately, and then in a combined way, each detection mode, via in vivo mouse imaging, with the final purpose of identifying small implanted tumor masses, of providing early tumor detection and following metastatic dissemination. We describe the multimodal system and summarize its main performance, as assessed in our research work in the various stages of the development, in fluorescence and radionuclide tests on healthy or tumor bearing mice. For gamma-ray detection we used a semiconductor pixel detector (Medipix1 or Medipix2) that works in single photon counting. Laser-induced fluorescence reflectance imaging was performed in vivo using a pulsed light source to excite the fluorescence emission of injected hematoporphyrin (HP) compound, a CCD camera, a low pass filter and a commercial image analysis system. The bimodal system was used for the acquisition of combined images of the tumor area (fluorescence: animal top view; radionuclide: bottom view). It was shown that the tumor area can be imaged in a few minutes, with a few millimeter resolution (1 mm pinhole diameter), radioactively (99mTc radiotracer), and with the fluorescence system and that, in one case, only one of the two modalities is able to recognize the tumor. A phantom study for thyroid imaging with 125I source embedded in a simulated tissue indicated a spatial resolution of 1.25 mm FWHM with a 1 mm pinhole.
Recently multimodal imaging systems have been devised because the combination of different imaging modalities results in the complementarity and integration of the techniques and in a consequent improvement of the diagnostic capabilities of the multimodal system with respect to each separate imaging modality.
We developed a simple and reliable HematoPorphyrin (HP) mediated Fluorescence Reflectance Imaging (FRI) system that allows for in vivo real time imaging of surface tumors with a large field of view. The tumor cells are anaplastic human thyroid carcinoma-derived ARO cells, or human papillary thyroid carcinoma-derived NPA cells. Our measurements show that the optical contrast of the tumor region image is increased by a simple digital subtraction of the background fluorescence and that HP fluorescence emissivity of ARO tumors is about 2 times greater than that of NPA tumors, and about 4 times greater than that of healthy tissues. This is also confirmed by spectroscopic measurements on histological sections of tumor and healthy tissues. It was shown also the capability of this system to distinguish the tumor type on the basis of the different intensity of the fluorescence emission, probably related to the malignancy degree.
The features of this system are complementary with those ones of a pixel radionuclide detection system, which allows for relatively time expensive, narrow field of view measurements, and applicability to tumors also deeply imbedded in tissues. The fluorescence detection could be used as a large scale and quick analysis tool and could be followed by narrow field, higher resolution radionuclide measurements on previously determined highly fluorescent regions.
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