Fluorescence imaging during abdominal surgery: real-time imaging of ureters and malignancies

Abstract

Fluorescence guided surgery is a technique that has widely been implemented and investigated over the last decade, and has repetitively revealed to be a vital tool during surgery. However, the process of adopting this technique into standard of care along with developing and translating novel fluorescent agents into the clinic has proven to take time. Preclinical studies that have been validated several years ago have now slowly been making the transition into the surgical field to be appraised in patients.

This thesis mainly focused on the clinical translation of ZW800-1 and cRGDZW800-1 which were developed for the intraoperative imaging of the ureters and colon cancer, respectively. Furthermore, this thesis focused on the further appraisal of a previously studied tumor-targeted fluorescent antibody (SGM-101) for the intraoperative imaging of primary, recurrent and metastasized colorectal cancer.