NIR fluorophores clinically assessed for fluorescence guided surgery

The term “fluorescence” was first proposed nearly two centuries ago, yet its application in Medicine has a relatively brief history of only 70 years. Nowadays, as fluorescence was gradually approaching into more medicine studies, fluorescence image-guided surgery has become the new arena for this technology. It allows surgeons to real-time visualize the target structure intraoperatively to increase the efficacy of surgical tissue resection and meanwhile avoid unnecessary radical treatment during open surgery, laparoscopy, thoracoscopy, or endoscopes. In this review, we introduce the concept of near-infrared fluorescence imaging for cancer surgery, review the clinical trial literature to date, outline the key issues pertaining to imaging system and contrast agent optimization, discuss limitations and leverage, and provide a framework for making the technology available for the routine care of cancer patients in the near future.