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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Non-invasive Optical Imaging of the Lymphatic Vasculature of a Mouse
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Published on: March 8, 2013

New horizons for imaging lymphatic function

Ruchi Sharma1, Juliet A Wendt, John C Rasmussen

  • 1Division of Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, BCM 360, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|June 4, 2008
PubMed

In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of noninvasive imaging modalities used clinically for the diagnosis of lymphatic diseases, new imaging agents for assessing lymphatic architecture and cancer status of lymph nodes, and emerging near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent optical imaging technologies and agents for functional lymphatic imaging. Given the promise of NIR optical imaging, we provide example results of functional lymphatic imaging in mice, swine, and humans, showing the ability of this technology to quantify lymph velocity and frequencies of propulsion resulting from the contractility of lymphatic structures.

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