September 10, 2008 - Cellvizio in vivo cellular imaging technology is helping researchers detect early-stage pancreatic cancer, understand stem cell development and enhance the value of whole body imaging, according to three new animal studies being presented at the World Molecular Imaging Congress in Nice, France, held September 10-13, 2008.
According to results from two recently published studies on Cellvizio imaging of pancreatic cancer, the targeted molecular imaging approach and vascular monitoring method developed, respectively, by Ken Young Lin and colleagues at the Center for Molecular Imaging Research in Boston and Johannes von Burstin and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich.
The Cellvizio system, by Mauna Kea Technologies, provides microscopic visualization of mucosal tissue and improves clinical outcomes by increasing the diagnostic yield of existing endoscopic procedures. The growing in vivo cellular imaging market enabling physicians to visualize, diagnose and treat pathologies that can not be seen using other imaging techniques.
These methods promise to substantially increase the detection rates of early-stage pancreatic cancer. Because early diagnosis and therapy response evaluation are the prerequisite for curative surgery, the presented translational results offer the prospect of improving overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients. The first study was published in the July 2008 issue of Translational Oncology and the second appeared in the August 15 issue of International Journal of Cancer.
A promising technique for in vivo tracking of somatic stem cells and could lead to valuable insights for improving the success of bone marrow transplants.Daniel Lewandowski and colleagues from the French Atomic Energy Commission in Fontenay aux roses, France, demonstrated that with Cellvizio they were able to view live in vivo the cellular dynamics of somatic stem cell development without interfering in the process.
The connection between cancer and blot clots may also be clearer for researchers. Using Cellvizio, Grace Thomas and colleagues from the Center of Research in Biological Oncology and Oncopharmacology in Marseille, France, demonstrated that the development of a cancerous tumor directly influences kinetics of blood clot formation in vivo. Through in vivo cellular imaging of platelets and leukocytes with Cellvizio, they were able to observe that times to blockage of veins and arteries were all significantly reduced in mice developing a tumor in comparison with those observed in control mice. These results may provide insights on how to prevent the risk of blood clot complications associated with cancer.
Carine Pestourie and colleagues from the French Atomic Energy Commission in France showed that the combination of whole body imaging systems such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Cellvizio provides a new tool to monitor quantitatively and dynamically the in vivo distribution of compounds, such as Quantum Dots, from whole body to cellular scales with low invasiveness. Such a combination could be used in the future to better diagnose human pathologies.
For more information: www.cellvizio.com
November 18, 2025 
