Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jan 15, 2019; 11(1): 1-8
Published online Jan 15, 2019. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v11.i1.1
Feasibility of hyperspectral analysis for discrimination of rabbit liver VX2 tumor
Feng Duan, Jing Yuan, Xuan Liu, Li Cui, Yan-Hua Bai, Xiao-Hui Li, Huang-Rong Xu, Chen-Yang Liu, Wei-Xing Yu
Feng Duan, Xuan Liu, Li Cui, Yan-Hua Bai, Xiao-Hui Li, Department of Interventional Radiology, the General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing 100853, China
Jing Yuan, Department of Pathology, the General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing 100853, China
Huang-Rong Xu, Chen-Yang Liu, Wei-Xing Yu, Key Laboratory of Spectral Imaging Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710119, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Duan F, Yu WX, and Liu X conceived and designed the study; Xu HR and Liu CY performed the experiments; Yuan J, Cui L, Bai YH, Li XH, and Liu X collected the data and images; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the General Hospital of People’s Liberation Army Institutional Review Board.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the General Hospital of People’s Liberation Army Institutional Review Board.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The manuscript was prepared according to the ARRIVE Guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Xing Yu, PhD, Professor, Key Laboratory of Spectral Imaging Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 17 Xinxi Road, New Industrial Park, Xi’an Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Xi’an 710119, Shaanxi Province, China. yuwx@opt.ac.cn
Telephone: +86-29-88887628 Fax: +86-29-88887637
Received: October 7, 2018
Peer-review started: October 7, 2018
First decision: October 26, 2018
Revised: November 23, 2018
Accepted: December 12, 2018
Article in press: December 13, 2018
Published online: January 15, 2019
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Currently, the most accurate diagnosis imaging modality for HCC is magnetic resonance imaging. However, it is difficult to distinguish cirrhosis lesions. Hyperspectral imaging may be a novel modality as an early/fast diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, there are few reports about hyperspectral analysis for HCC.

Research motivation

Because hyperspectral analysis is not penetrable, previous research on diagnosis has mainly focused on superficial tissue and establishment of the tumor margin during surgery. The development of interventional medicine provides another potential application for hyperspectral analysis. We can reach deeper organs with minimal invasion by a percutaneous approach, and a millimeter-level optical fiber can be introduced into the deep tissue to obtain reflecting hyperspectral signals or images. With the combination of interventional techniques and hyperspectral analysis, we want to provide a new complementary diagnostic tool for HCC.

Research objectives

In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of hyperspectral analysis for the discrimination of rabbit VX2 liver tumor from normal liver tissue, and to identify if hyperspectral imaging can distinguish HCC from normal tissue.

Research methods

A rabbit liver VX2 tumor model was established. After laparotomy and under direct view, VX2 tumor tissue and normal liver tissue were subjected to hyperspectral analysis.

Research results

The spectral signature of the liver tumor was clearly distinguishable from that of the normal tissue, simply from the original spectral curves. Specifically, two absorption peaks at 600–900 nm wavelength in normal tissue disappeared in tumor tissue, but a new reflection peak appeared in the tumor tissue. The average optical reflection at the whole waveband of 400-1800 nm in liver tumor was higher than that of the normal tissue.

Research conclusions

Hyperspectral analysis can differentiate rabbit VX2 tumors from normal tissue. Further research will focus on performing hyperspectral imaging to obtain more information for differentiation of liver cancer from normal tissue.

Research perspectives

With the combination of interventional techniques and hyperspectral analysis, it is expected to bring us a novel complementary diagnostic tool for HCC. Hyperspectral analysis may be a powerful tool for HCC analysis, with many advantages, including rapidity and no ionizing radiation or contrast agents.