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Updated: Dec 20, 2025
Fluorescence Molecular Tomography for In Vivo Imaging of Glioblastoma Xenografts
Published on: April 26, 2018
Fluorescein-guided surgery for spinal gliomas: Analysis of 220 consecutive cases
Zhenxing Sun1, Linkai Jing1, Yingwei Fan2
1Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Objective:
Sodium fluorescein (FL) is widely used as a fluorescent tracer for brain tumor resection. However, FL-guided resection of spinal gliomas has been reported only occasionally. To evaluate the safety, characteristics, and usefulness of FL-guided surgery in the resection of spinal glioma.
Methods:
Between January 2015 and December 2018, 220 consecutive patients with 227 spinal gliomas underwent FL-guided resection using the Zeiss Pentero 900 surgical microscope with an integrated YELLOW 560 filter. FL evaluation and clinical outcomes were analyzed.
Results:
No FL-related complications occurred in this series. Entire tumor fluorescence was observed in 161 (70.93%) gliomas, nodular fluorescence in 46 (20.26%) tumors, and no fluorescence in 20 (8.81%) tumors. The intraoperative fluorescence of 217 (95.59%) gliomas was highly correlated with preoperative contrast-enhancing magnetic resonance imaging, except in eight ependymomas, one pilocytic astrocytoma, and one diffuse midline glioma. Gross-total resection was achieved in 78.85% (179/227) of spinal gliomas, including 94.30% (149/158) ependymal tumors and 43.48% (30/69) astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumors. At the final clinical follow-up, the spinal function of 75 (33.04%) patients showed significant improvement, 105 (46.26%) showed stabilization, and 47 (20.70%) showed deterioration.
Conclusion:
FL is a safe and useful real-time tool that could enhance tumor borders or residual tumors and hence increase the gross-total resection rate in cases with contrast-enhanced tumors.
