Label-free wide-field imaging of brain tumors using near-infrared endogenous fluorescence and reflectance normalization.
Overview
- Polytechnique Montréal, Department of Physics Engineering, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- McGill University, Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Department of Medicine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Jewish General Hospital, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Pathology, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- McGill University, Department of Pathology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Jewish General Hospital, Division of Endocrinology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Abstract
Significance: Maximizing safe tumor resection remains a major challenge in brain tumor surgery due to the lack of reliable real-time intraoperative contrast between tumor and healthy brain tissue. Label-free optical methods based on endogenous tissue fluorescence could provide simple, noninvasive feedback to guide resection while avoiding the logistical and regulatory limitations of exogenous fluorophores.
Aim: The study aims to investigate whether endogenous near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence can differentiate tumor from normal brain tissue in vivo and to develop a wide-field fluorescence and reflectance imaging system for label-free visualization of brain tumor specimens ex vivo.
Approach: We analyzed in vivo data acquired with a hand-held near-infrared spectroscopy probe from 26 patients (430 measurements) to quantify endogenous fluorescence differences between glioblastoma or astrocytoma and normal brain. Based on these findings, we built a wide-field imaging prototype using 808-nm laser excitation, red-shifted fluorescence detection with an InGaAs short-wave infrared camera, and co-registered reflectance imaging for ratiometric normalization. The system was validated with ex vivo human surgical specimens (14 samples from five patients).
Results: Endogenous fluorescence intensity measured in vivo was significantly higher in normal brain tissue compared with tumor, yielding positive predictive values of 85 to 88% for tumor and a negative predictive value of 96% for normal tissue. Ex vivo wide-field imaging reproduced this contrast: normalized fluorescence was lower in tumor regions than in histologically confirmed normal areas, consistent with metabolic differences observed in vivo.
Conclusions: Endogenous NIR fluorescence provides intrinsic contrast between normal and tumoral brain tissue. The demonstrated corrected wide-field fluorescence imaging approach could offer a feasible, label-free method for real-time visualization of tumor margins, supporting its future clinical translation as an intraoperative guidance tool.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
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Code and Data Availability
The data and materials information that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 9 keywords, 10 MeSH terms, 3 funders, 25 references.
Cite
This paper
Beaudoin, G., Blanquez-Yeste, V., Dallaire, F., Lee, S. S., Cayrol, R., Guiot, M.-C., Trifiro, M. A., Paliouras, M., Petrecca, K., & Leblond, F. (2026). Label-free wide-field imaging of brain tumors using near-infrared endogenous fluorescence and reflectance normalization. Journal of biomedical optics, 31(8), 086005. https://
BibTeX
@article{beaudoin2026lab
author = {Beaudoin, Gabriel and Blanquez-Yeste, Victor and Dallaire, Frédérick and Lee, Seung Soo and Cayrol, Romain and Guiot, Marie-Christine and Trifiro, Mark A. and Paliouras, Miltiadis and Petrecca, Kevin and Leblond, Frédéric},
title = {{Label-free wide-field imaging of brain tumors using near-infrared endogenous fluorescence and reflectance normalization}},
journal = {Journal of biomedical optics},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {31},
number = {8},
pages = {086005},
publisher = {Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers},
issn = {1083-3668},
doi = {10.1117/
url = {https://
pmid = {42592302},
pmcid = {PMC13463984}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Beaudoin, Gabriel
AU - Blanquez-Yeste, Victor
AU - Dallaire, Frédérick
AU - Lee, Seung Soo
AU - Cayrol, Romain
AU - Guiot, Marie-Christine
AU - Trifiro, Mark A.
AU - Paliouras, Miltiadis
AU - Petrecca, Kevin
AU - Leblond, Frédéric
TI - Label-free wide-field imaging of brain tumors using near-infrared endogenous fluorescence and reflectance normalization
T2 - Journal of biomedical optics
J2 - J Biomed Opt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 31
IS - 8
SP - 086005
SN - 1083-3668
PB - Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
DO - 10.1117/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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