Surgical tumour revomal remains the main treatment of bladder en penile cancer. Adequate tumor staging is paramount. Fluorescence Molecular Imaging (FMI) techniques are upcomming as imaging tools. Targets that could be labeled and used for fluorescent imaging of tumours should be identified.
The first part of Christa van der Fels’ thesis showed that EpCAM seemed a suitable target for imaging modalities detecting bladder cancer. EGFR appeared a proper target to detect penile cancer.
In the second part of the thesis we used EGFR-targeting (Cetuximab) FMI for the detection of penile cancer. A tumour-to-bakcground ratio (TBR) of 1.51 was seen in tissue slices. In one patient, a fluorescent spot was seen, corresponding to a tumour positive resection margin.
In the last chapter we compared different cameras in different light spectra, in order to create the best contrast images. We investigated these cameras on penile and head and neck cancer. Near infrared systems showed best contrast images in head and neck cancer. In penile cancer samples TBR showed no significant difference, but short wave images showed a significant higher contrast-to-noise ratio over a line compared to near infrared.
