Research and surgical application of fluorescent contrast agents

In recent years, the use of fluorescent contrast agents staining to guide surgery has flourished in various fields of surgery under the concept of precision surgery, which is helpful to guide surgery and provide surgeons with actual visible fluorescence imaging.Clinically, fluorescent contrast agent can be used to display tumor’s outline with high recognition degree, guide operation in real time, locate lymph node metastasis, detect small metastases, and identify important anatomical structures during the operation to avoid possible side-injury. Great progress has been made in the study of fluorescent contrast agents that can mediate surgery, including the study and surgical application development of classical fluorescent contrast agents such as indocyanine green and methylene blue, etc, as well as the discovery and clinical application of new targeted fluorescent contrast agents such as folate receptor targeting contrast agents, monoclonal antibody based fluorescent targeting contrast agents and intelligent contrast agents, etc. This paper will review the research and surgical application of fluorescent contrast agents in two aspects: classical fluorescent contrast agents and new targeted fluorescent contrast agents. Key words: Fluorescent dyes; Surgical procedures, operative; Fluorescent contrast agent; Fluorescent guided surgery; Fluorescence imaging