Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019 Jul;1448(1):42-51. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14086. Epub 2019 Apr 5.
Indocyanine green (ICG) has been widely used in medical imaging, such as in retinal angiography. Here, we describe a pilot ex vivo study of ICG-assisted near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) dental imaging in the first (700-950 nm for ICG-NIRF-I) and second (1000-1700 nm for ICG-NIRF-II) NIR windows using human extracted teeth; our study is compared with the traditional prevalent X-ray imaging and NIR II illumination (NIRi-II, 1310 nm) without ICG enhancement. The results show that ICG fluorescence has much better imaging contrast in both windows compared with NIRi-II (by quantitatively comparing NIR intensity of the critical neighboring structures, such as enamel and dentin). Cracked teeth, notoriously hard to diagnose by dental X-ray and computed tomography, were clearly profiled in NIRF dental imaging. An insidious occlusal caries, missing in X-ray imaging, became a bright dot that was readily observed in ICG-NIRF-I images. For dental decay, NIRF imaging with ICG enhancement could clearly delineate the decay boundary. NIRF in both windows distinguished interproximal and occlusal superficial caries. Overall, ICG-assisted NIRF dental imaging has unique advantages in identifying cracked teeth and insidious caries. The two NIR imaging windows used in our study might one day serve as noninvasive and nonionizing-radiation methods for the diagnosis of critical dental diseases in situ.
吲哚菁绿（ICG）已广泛应用于医学成像，如视网膜血管造影。在这里，我们描述了一项使用人离体牙齿进行的吲哚菁绿辅助近红外荧光（NIRF）牙科成像的初步离体研究；我们的研究与传统的流行的 X 射线成像和无 ICG 增强的近红外二区（NIRii，1310nm）照明进行了比较。结果表明，与 NIRii 相比，ICG 荧光在两个窗口中都具有更好的成像对比度（通过定量比较关键邻近结构（如牙釉质和牙本质）的 NIR 强度）。众所周知，X 射线和计算机断层扫描难以诊断裂牙，但在 NIRF 牙科成像中可以清晰地显示。在 X 射线成像中缺失的隐匿性咬合面龋在 ICG-NIRF-I 图像中成为一个明亮的点，很容易观察到。对于龋齿，ICG 增强的 NIRF 成像可以清晰地描绘出龋齿的边界。两个 NIR 窗口中的 NIRF 都可以区分邻面和咬合面浅层龋。总的来说，ICG 辅助的 NIRF 牙科成像在识别裂牙和隐匿性龋方面具有独特的优势。本研究中使用的两个近红外成像窗口有朝一日可能成为非侵入性和非电离辐射方法，用于原位诊断临界牙病。
