Multiphoton imaging of basal cell carcinoma (BCC)

We used two-photon microscopy towards the imaging of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Our aim was to evaluate the morphology of BCC using two-photon fluorescence excitation and to establish a correlation with histopathology. We built a custom two-photon microscope and we measured the system capabilities. The system allowed to perform a preliminary measurement on a fresh human skin tissue sample. A human skin tissue sample of BCC excised during dermatological surgery procedures were used. The clinical diagnosis of BCC was confirmed by subsequent histopathological examination. The sample was imaged using endogenous tissue fluorescence within 2-3 hours from the excision with a two photon laser scanning fluorescence microscope. The acquired images allowed an obvious discrimination of the neoplastic areas toward normal tissue, based on morphological differences and aberrations of the intensity of the fluorescence signal. Our results showed that BCC tissue has a more homogeneous structure in comparison to normal tissue as well as a higher fluorescent response. The images obtained by two photon microscopy were further compared to the images acquired by an optical microscope after the conventional histopathological examination on one part of the respective sample. Our suggested method may represent a new diagnostic tool that improves the diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination alone, enabling the accurate discrimination of basal cell carcinoma from normal tissue.