Hypoxia

Surgical resection of cancerous tissue is a common treatment used to reduce the likelihood of cancer spreading to healthy tissues. However, the efficacy of ...

“Acquiring both prompt and delayed fluorescence in a rapid sequential cycle allowed for imaging oxygen levels in a way that was independent of the PpIX concentration,” they say. They found that the ratio of delayed to prompt fluorescence was inversely proportional to the local oxygen partial pressure in tissue. This enabled them to reduce the detection of background noise and accurately monitor changes in the delayed fluorescence signal. The delayed fluorescence signal decay can be observed and analysed further to better understand the metabolic activity of nearby tissue. [Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth](https://engineering.dartmouth.edu) and the [University of Wisconsin-Madison](https://www.wisc.edu) are investigating the use of fluorescent probes for real-time imaging of local oxygen concentration in tissue during surgery. However, the efficacy of such surgery strongly depends on the surgeon’s ability to distinguish between cancerous and healthy tissue.