Ex vivo metabolic imaging of tumor samples from patients by FLIM

The aim of our work was to investigate energy metabolism of patient’s tumor ex vivo using fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). Tumor metabolism was examined by detecting the fluorescence lifetime of metabolic cofactor NAD(P)H. In glioma tumor samples was shown a different energy metabolism with white matter. Colorectal tumors displayed marked intertumor heterogeneity and shift towards oxidative energy metabolism. Thereby, the possibility of assessing the energy metabolism in postoperative tumor samples of patients was shown.