Intraoperative intravital microscopy permits the study of human tumour vessels

Tumour vessels have been studied extensively as they are critical sites for drug delivery, anti-angiogenic therapies and immunotherapy. As a preclinical tool, intravital microscopy (IVM) allows for in vivo real-time direct observation of vessels at the cellular level. However, to date there are no reports of intravital high-resolution imaging of human tumours in the clinical setting. Here we report the feasibility of IVM examinations of human malignant disease with an emphasis on tumour vasculature as the major site of tumour-host interactions. Consistent with preclinical observations, we show that patient tumour vessels are disorganized, tortuous and ∼50% do not support blood flow. Human tumour vessel diameters are larger than predicted from immunohistochemistry or preclinical IVM, and thereby have lower wall shear stress, which influences delivery of drugs and cellular immunotherapies. Thus, real-time clinical imaging of living human tumours is feasible and allows for detection of characteristics within the tumour microenvironment.