Image of a human glioma in a mouse brain, as captured by the updated version of the new camera system. On the left, a white light image is overlaid with an NIR image; on the right, a separate NIR image is shown.COURTESY OF PRAMOD BUTTEThe device: A new high-resolution, two-in-one camera system captures normal, white-light images of the brain, while pulses of near-infrared (NIR) stimulate the fluorescence of tumor cells labeled with an NIR marker called Tumor Paint. Overlaying the visible and NIR light images on a single screen provides a live film of where the tumor sits in the overall landscape of healthy brain tissue.
Testing the system on mouse brains that were implanted with human gliomas, researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the Seattle-based firm behind Tumor Paint, Blaze Bioscience, confirmed that NIR marker had a high affinity for the cancerous tissue as compared with normal brain tissue, and found that the imaging system could detect even minute levels of fluorescence. They published their results this week (February 24) in the Neurosurgical Focus.
“The paper presents a proof of concept that showed it’s possible to go down to 100pM of this dye” and still be able to visualize the tumors, said Cedars-Sinai biomedical engineer Pramod Butte.
The significance: Removing tumors from the brain is tricky business. If surgeons don’t get all the cancer, it’s liable ...
