Radiotherapy-induced Cherenkov luminescence imaging in a human body phantom

Abstract

© 2018 The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. Radiation therapy produces Cherenkov optical emission in tissue, and this light can be utilized to activate molecular probes. The feasibility of sensing luminescence from a tissue molecular oxygen sensor from within a human body phantom was examined using the geometry of the axillary lymph node region. Detection of regions down to 30-mm deep was feasible with submillimeter spatial resolution with the total quantity of the phosphorescent sensor PtG4 near 1 nanomole. Radiation sheet scanning in an epi-illumination geometry provided optimal coverage, and maximum intensity projection images provided illustration of the concept. This work provides the preliminary information needed to attempt this type of imaging in vivo.