Fluorescence lifetime studies on quantitative assessment for brain tumor phantoms

Yan-Hui Lee^1*, Yi-Chun Chen¹

¹Institute of Imaging and Biomedical Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan, Taiwan

* Presenter:Yan-Hui Lee, email:nycu311805019.pt11@nycu.edu.tw

The current mainstream method for treating brain tumors includes intraoperative fluorescence guidance technology, which utilizes presurgical administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) ingested by the patient to induce the production of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) fluorescent molecules in tumor cells. Subsequently, a 405nm excitation light is used to illuminate PpIX, allowing surgeons to identify the distribution of the tumor. However, this technique is limited to tissue autofluorescence and so on. We applied the frequency-domain fluorescence lifetime technique to overcome problems arising from the weak fluorescence intensity of PpIX, enabling surgeons to distinguish areas requiring resection based on the fluorescence lifetime values. In this study, we fabricated brain tumor phantoms with different PpIX fluorescence lifetimes. We validated the potential of this technique to distinguish boundaries of brain tumors that require resection accurately.

Keywords: fluorescence lifetime, brain tumor , Protoporphyrin IX