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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2013 Jul 23;10(9):507–518. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.123

Figure 4. NIR fluorescence imaging alone or in combination with other imaging modalities.

Figure 4

Left panel: In this example, two superficially located targets, up to 5–8 mm deep, can be located using NIR fluorescence imaging. However, a deeper target at 25 mm would be invisible using by NIR fluorescence imaging alone.

Middle panel: Combining NIR fluorescence imaging with radioscintigraphy enables visualization of all three targets. However, spatial and temporal resolution of radioscintigraphy is poor. Once overlying tissue is removed, as guided by radioscintigraphy, NIR fluorescence can be used for more precise image guidance (see also Figure 2).

Right panel: Intraoperative ultrasound can visualize targets that are located deeper within tissue, but fails to find superficially located targets because of high acoustic reflectance. These superficial targets, though, can be visualized by NIR fluorescence thereby complementing intraoperative ultrasound. Of note, the ultrasound probe must be in direct contact with the tissue being imaged, thus precluding simultaneous imaging with NIR fluorescence.