Application of fluorescence lifetime imaging in skin cancer diagnosis

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) can reveal information about the spatial distribution of a fluorescent molecule together with information about its microenvironment, which makes FLIM find wide applications in biomedical research. In this paper, we implemented time-correlated single-photon counting-based fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (TCSPC-based FLIM) in skin cancer diagnosis, including malignant melanoma (MM), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The fluorescence lifetime images and two-dimensional vector analysis of normal and several cancerous skin tissue sections stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) were mapped and the results showed that cancerous skin tissue has a relatively shorter fluorescence lifetime compared with normal skin tissue. Moreover, the fluorescence lifetime of skin cancer tissue sections with different clinical stages was measured, and the quantitative relationship between fluorescence lifetime and pathological stage of skin cancer was explored.