UNASSIGNED: A significant difference exists between the reported optimal timing of indocyanine green (ICG) injection during fluorescence cholangiography and ICG dissipation time from the serum. There are no reports on alterations in ICG concentration in biliary fluid over time. Herein, we measured the concentration of ICG and the fluorescence intensity ratio between the common bile duct (CBD) and liver, which was recognized as a parameter of the visibility of the CBD.
UNASSIGNED: ICG (0.05 mg/kg) was injected intravenously into female pigs (n = 7). Afterwards, the fluorescence of the CBD and liver was detected at 30 min, 2 h, and 4 h. Biliary fluid was collected from cannulated CBD tubes. The fluorescence intensity was measured using captured images and calculated using the ImageJ image-processing program. ICG concentration was measured using spectrophotometry and compared using an analysis of variance test.
UNASSIGNED: Biliary ICG concentrations at 30 min, 2 h, and 4 h were 92.07 ± 27.72 μg/mL, 37.14 ± 9.76 μg/mL (p < 0.05 vs. 30 min), and 13.91 ± 5.71 μg/mL (p < 0.05 vs. 30 min), respectively; p < 0.01. The CBD/liver fluorescence intensity ratios at 30 min, 2 h, and 4 h were 1.25 ± 0.72, 2.39 ± 1.28 (p < 0.05 vs. 30 min and 4 h), and 3.38 ± 1.73 (p < 0.05 vs. 30 min and 2 h), respectively.
UNASSIGNED: The ICG biliary concentration was highest at 30 min, whereas the CBD/liver fluorescence intensity ratio was highest at 4 h. Decreasing the fluorescence intensity of the liver may be an important approach for improving the visualization of the CBD during fluorescence cholangiography.
UNASSIGNED: PE/EA/491-5/2020.

Thyroid cancer, as one of the most common endocrine cancers, has seen a surge in incidence in recent years. This is most likely due to the lack of specificity and accuracy of its traditional diagnostic modalities, leading to the overdiagnosis of thyroid nodules. Although there are several treatment options available, they are limited to surgery and 131I radiation therapy that come with significant side effects and hence cannot meet the treatment needs of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma with very high malignancy. Optical imaging that utilizes optical absorption, refraction and scattering properties, not only observes the structure and function of cells, tissues, organs, or even the whole organism to assist in diagnosis, but can also be used to perform optical therapy to achieve targeted non-invasive and precise treatment of thyroid cancer. These applications of screening, diagnosis, and treatment, lend to optical imaging\'s promising potential within the realm of thyroid cancer surgical navigation. Over the past decade, research on optical imaging in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer has been growing year by year, but no comprehensive review on this topic has been published. Here, we review key advances in the application of optical imaging in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer and discuss the challenges and potential for clinical translation of this technology.

Nowadays, infectious diseases persist as a global crisis by causing significant destruction to public health and the economic stability of countries worldwide. Especially bacterial infections remain a most severe concern due to the prevalence and emergence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) and limitations with existing therapeutic options. Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (APDT) is a potential therapeutic modality that involves the systematic administration of photosensitizers (PSs), light, and molecular oxygen (O2) for coping with bacterial infections. Although the existing porphyrin and non-porphyrin PSs were effective in APDT, the poor solubility, limited efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria, and non-specific distribution hinder their clinical applications. Accordingly, to promote the efficiency of conventional PSs, various polymer-driven modification and functionalization strategies have been adopted to engineer multifunctional hybrid phototherapeutics. This review assesses recent advancements and state-of-the-art research in polymer-PSs hybrid materials developed for APDT applications. Further, the key research findings of the following aspects are considered in-depth with constructive discussions: i) PSs-integrated/functionalized polymeric composites through various molecular interactions; ii) PSs-deposited coatings on different substrates and devices to eliminate healthcare-associated infections; and iii) PSs-embedded films, scaffolds, and hydrogels for regenerative medicine applications.

UNASSIGNED: and importance: Tumor localization is vital in the surgical management of nonpalpable breast cancer. Various localization methods exist, each with their own disadvantages. Therefore, we need to investigate the optimal method of diagnosis for this condition.
UNASSIGNED: A 66-year-old woman presented to our facility with a microcalcification detected on screening mammography (MMG). The lesion was neither palpable nor detectable on ultrasonography (US). Three-dimensional stereotactic biopsy using MMG revealed ductal carcinoma in situ. The precise tumor location was needed to perform breast-conserving surgery.
UNASSIGNED: Our hospital did not have radioisotope imaging; hence, wire placement would have been difficult for this lesion location. To aid in localization, indocyanine green (ICG) and fluorescence imaging were used. ICG was injected preoperatively using stereotactic MMG, which enabled clear visualization of the lesion. Then, an accurate resection was performed. The patient was discharged without any complications 2 days after surgery.
UNASSIGNED: The findings of this case report suggest that stereotactic MMG-guided ICG can be useful in localizing breast cancer tumors that are nonpalpable and undetectable by US.

Portal hypertension is the cause of the clinical complications associated with cirrhosis. The primary complications of portal hypertension are ascites, acute variceal bleed, and hepatic encephalopathy. Hepatic venous pressure gradient measurement remains the gold standard test for diagnosing cirrhosis-related portal hypertension. Hepatic venous pressure gradient more than 10 mmHg is associated with an increased risk of complications and is termed clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH). Clinical, laboratory, and imaging methods can also aid in diagnosing CSPH non-invasively. Recently, deep learning methods have been demonstrated to diagnose CSPH effectively. The management of portal hypertension is always individualized and is dependent on the etiology, the availability of therapies, and the degree of portal hypertension complications. In this review, we discuss the diagnosis and management of cirrhosis-related portal hypertension in detail. Also, we highlight the history of portal hypertension and future research areas in portal hypertension.

Photothermal therapy has the characteristics of minimal invasiveness, controllability, high efficiency, and strong specificity, which can effectively make up for the toxic side effects and tumor resistance caused by traditional drug treatment. However, due to the limited tissue penetration of infrared light, it is difficult to promote and apply in clinical practice. The eye is the only transparent tissue in human, and infrared light can easily penetrate the eye tissue, so it is expected that photothermal therapy can be used to treat fundus diseases. Here in, a new nano-platform assembled by liposome and indocyanine green (ICG) was used to treat retinoblastoma. ICG was assembled in liposomes to overcome some problems of ICG itself. For example, ICG is easily quenched, self-aggregating and instability. Moreover, liposomes can prevent free ICG from being cleared through the systemic circulation. The construction of the nano-platform not only ensured the stability of ICG in vivo, but also realized imaging-guide photothermal therapy, which created a new strategy for the treatment of retinoblastoma.

Although multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) significantly evolved over the last several years, there is a lack of quantitative methods for analysing this type of image data. Current analytical methods characterise the MSOT signal in manually defined regions of interest outlining selected tissue areas. These methods demand expert knowledge of the sample anatomy, are time consuming, highly subjective and prone to user bias. Here we present our fully automated open-source MSOT cluster analysis toolkit Mcat that was designed to overcome these shortcomings. It employs a deep learning-based approach for initial image segmentation followed by unsupervised machine learning to identify regions of similar signal kinetics. It provides an objective and automated approach to quantify the pharmacokinetics and extract the biodistribution of biomarkers from MSOT data. We exemplify our generally applicable analysis method by quantifying liver function in a preclinical sepsis model whilst highlighting the advantages of our new approach compared to the severe limitations of existing analysis procedures.

UNASSIGNED: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rising steadily in incidence, and more effective methods are needed for early cancer detection and image-guided surgery.
UNASSIGNED: We used a structural model to optimize the peptide sequence. Specific binding was validated in vitro with knockdown, competition, and co-localization assays. Multi-modal imaging was performed to validate specific binding in vivo in orthotopically-implanted human xenograft tumors.
UNASSIGNED: Binding properties of WKGWSYLWTQQA were characterized by an apparent dissociation constant of kd = 43 nM, and an apparent association time constant of k = 0.26 min-1. The target-to-background ratio was significantly higher for the target versus control for both modalities. Ex-vivo evaluation using human HCC specimens supported the ability of the peptide to distinguish HCC from other liver pathologies.
UNASSIGNED: We have identified a peptide specific for CD44 with properties that are promising for clinical translation to image HCC in vivo.

The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy motivates a potent immune system by triggering immunogenic cell death (ICD), showing great potential in inhibiting tumor growth and improving the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITM). However, the therapeutic effectiveness has been restricted by inferior drug bioavailability. Herein, we reported a universal bioresponsive doxorubicin (DOX)-based nanogel to achieve tumor-specific co-delivery of drugs. DOX-based mannose nanogels (DM NGs) was designed and choosed as an example to elucidate the mechanism of combined chemo-immunotherapy. As expected, the DM NGs exhibited prominent micellar stability, selective drug release and prolonged survival time, benefited from the enhanced tumor permeability and prolonged blood circulation. We discovered that the DOX delivered by DM NGs could induce powerful anti-tumor immune response facilitated by promoting ICD. Meanwhile, the released mannose from DM NGs was proved as a powerful and synergetic treatment for breast cancer in vitro and in vivo, via damaging the glucose metabolism in glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Overall, the regulation of tumor microenvironment with DOX-based nanogel is expected to be an effectual candidate strategy to overcome the current limitations of ICD-based immunotherapy, offering a paradigm for the exploitation of immunomodulatory nanomedicines.

Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems (Nano-DDSs) have emerged as possible solution to the obstacles of anticancer drug delivery. However, the clinical outcomes and translation are restricted by several drawbacks, such as low drug loading, premature drug leakage and carrier-related toxicity. Recently, pure drug nano-assemblies (PDNAs), fabricated by the self-assembly or co-assembly of pure drug molecules, have attracted considerable attention. Their facile and reproducible preparation technique helps to remove the bottleneck of nanomedicines including quality control, scale-up production and clinical translation. Acting as both carriers and cargos, the carrier-free PDNAs have an ultra-high or even 100% drug loading. In addition, combination therapies based on PDNAs could possibly address the most intractable problems in cancer treatment, such as tumor metastasis and drug resistance. In the present review, the latest development of PDNAs for cancer treatment is overviewed. First, PDNAs are classified according to the composition of drug molecules, and the assembly mechanisms are discussed. Furthermore, the co-delivery of PDNAs for combination therapies is summarized, with special focus on the improvement of therapeutic outcomes. Finally, future prospects and challenges of PDNAs for efficient cancer therapy are spotlighted.