In authors or contributors

Minimally invasive method for the point-of-care quantification of lymphatic vessel function

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Minimally invasive method for the point-of-care quantification of lymphatic vessel function
Abstract
Current clinical methods for the evaluation of lymphatic vessel function, crucial for early diagnosis and evaluation of treatment response of several pathological conditions, in particular of postsurgical lymphedema, are based on complex and mainly qualitative imaging techniques. To address this unmet medical need, we established a simple strategy for the painless and quantitative assessment of cutaneous lymphatic function. We prepared a lymphatic-specific tracer formulation, consisting of the clinically approved near-infrared fluorescent dye, indocyanine green, and the solubilizing surfactant Kolliphor HS15. The tracer was noninvasively delivered to the dermal layer of the skin using MicronJet600 hollow microneedles, and the fluorescence signal decay at the injection site was measured over time using a custom-made, portable detection device. The decay rate of fluorescence signal in the skin was used as a direct measure of lymphatic vessel drainage function. With this method, we could quantify impaired lymphatic clearance in transgenic mice lacking dermal lymphatics and distinguish distinct lymphatic clearance patterns in pigs in different body locations and under manual stimulus. Overall, this method has the potential for becoming a noninvasive and quantitative clinical "office test" for lymphatic function assessment.
Publication
JCI insight
Volume
4
Issue
4
Pages
126515
Date
2019-02-21
Journal Abbr
JCI Insight
Language
eng
ISSN
2379-3708
Library Catalog
PubMed
Citation
Polomska, A. K., Proulx, S. T., Brambilla, D., Fehr, D., Bonmarin, M., Brändli, S., Meboldt, M., Steuer, C., Vasileva, T., Reinke, N., Leroux, J.-C., & Detmar, M. (2019). Minimally invasive method for the point-of-care quantification of lymphatic vessel function. JCI Insight, 4(4), 126515. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.126515
Publication