Nanoprobes-Assisted Multichannel NIR-II Fluorescence Imaging-Guided Resection and Photothermal Ablation of Lymph Nodes

Abstract

Lymph node metastasis is a major metastatic route of cancer and significantly influences the prognosis of cancer patients. Radical lymphadenectomy is crucial for a successful surgery. However, iatrogenic normal organ injury during lymphadenectomy is a troublesome complication. Here, this paper reports a kind of organic nanoprobes (IDSe-IC2F nanoparticles (NPs)) with excellent second near-infrared (NIR-II) fluorescence and photothermal properties. IDSe-IC2F NPs can effectively label lymph nodes and helped achieve high-contrast lymphatic imaging. More importantly, by jointly using IDSe-IC2F nanoparticles and other kinds of nanoparticles with different excitation/emission properties, a multichannel NIR-II fluorescence imaging modality and imaging-guided lymphadenectomy is proposed. With the help of this navigation system, the iatrogenic injury can be largely avoided. In addition, NIR-II fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal treatment ("hot" strategy) can ablate those metastatic lymph nodes which are difficult to deal with during resection ("cold" strategy). Nanoprobes-assisted and multichannel NIR-II fluorescence imaging-guided "cold" and "hot" treatment strategy provides a general new basis for the future precision surgery.

Keywords: NIR‐II fluorescence imaging; imaging‐guided; lymphadenectomy; multichannel; nanoprobes; photothermal ablation.