The LMIT: Light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics in oncology

Sep 21, 2026

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Minimally-invasive diagnosis and therapy are emerging as a central trend in medical research. The integration of intraoperative diagnosis and treatment aims at real-time detection to reduce mortality and improve patients’ quality of life through minimally-invasive theranostics (MIT). Light serves as a key theranostic tool, enabling light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics (LMIT) to combine diagnosis and therapeutics for less invasive treatment. The review outlines optical MIT/LMIT state-of-the-art and discusses multimodal image-guided therapy, intraoperative imaging, real-time analysis, and future challenges.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Cancer treatment challenges and precision medicine

Optical and multimodality intraoperative imaging

Light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics (LMIT)

Laser ablation and image-guided therapy

Keywords

Review Ivyspring International Publisher Theranostics 2024; 14(1): 341-362. doi: 10.7150/thno.87783 The LMIT: Light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics in oncology Yingwei Fan1􀀍, Shuai Liu1, Enze Gao1, Rui Guo1, Guozhao Dong1, Yangxi Li2, Tianxin Gao1, Xiaoying Tang1, and Hongen Liao2 1. School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, 100081. 2. Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 100084. 􀀍 Corresponding author: Prof. Yingwei Fan, Email: [fanyingwei@bit.edu.cn](fanyingwei@bit.edu.cn). © The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)). See [http://ivyspring.com/terms](http://ivyspring.com/terms) for full terms and conditions. Received: 2023.07.04; Accepted: 2023.10.18; Published: 2024.01.01 Abstract Minimally-invasive diagnosis and therapy have gradually become the trend and research hotspot of current medical applications. The integration of intraoperative diagnosis and treatment is a development important direction for real-time detection, minimally-invasive diagnosis and therapy to reduce mortality and improve the quality of life of patients, so called minimally-invasive theranostics (MIT). Light is an important theranostic tool for the treatment of cancerous tissues. Light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics (LMIT) is a novel evolutionary technology that integrates diagnosis and therapeutics for the less invasive treatment of diseased tissues. Intelligent theranostics would promote precision surgery based on the optical characterization of cancerous tissues. Furthermore, MIT also requires the assistance of smart medical devices or robots. And, optical multimodality lay a solid foundation for intelligent MIT. In this review, we summarize the important state-of-the-arts of optical MIT or LMIT in oncology. Multimodal optical image-guided intelligent treatment is another focus. Intraoperative imaging and real-time analysis-guided optical treatment are also systemically discussed. Finally, the potential challengesand future perspectives of intelligent optical MIT are discussed. Keywords: minimally-invasive diagnosis and therapy, intelligent theranostics, intraoperative imaging, optical diagnosis and therapy, image-guided surgery 1. Introduction Cancer is a very difficult disease to cure and represents a group of diseases characterized by rapidly proliferating cells that can spread to other tissues in a process called metastasis. The complete resection of tumorous tissues by surgery or direct ablation is also challenging due to the difficulty in the identification of residual cancerous tissues. In recent decades, precision medicine has been the focus in the treatment of cancers [1]. Light has been widely used in modern biomedical and clinical applications [2,3] . Optical diagnosis, therapy are important methods for the treatment of cancerous tissue. Currently, with the rapid development of optical technology (OT), information technology (IT) and artifact intelligence (AI) [4], the intelligent integration of precision diagnosis and interventional therapeutics for minimally-invasive surgery (MIS) plays an important role in the treatment of soft tissue carcinomas, i.e., minimally-invasive theranostics (MIT) . Currently, some minimally-invasive devices based on optical technology, so-called optical MIT devices or light-mediated MIT (LMIT) devices, are routinely researched and developed in the clinical applications. During malignant tumor eliminating (such as multiform glioblastoma, GBM), the conventional therapeutic is surgical resection based on skilled surgeons’ experience during an open operation [2] . In the conventional treatment of tumors, surgical resection is also a primary and conventional means. Computer-assisted surgery [5,6] can pr

FAQs

What is minimally-invasive theranostics (MIT) and why is it important?

MIT integrates intraoperative diagnosis and treatment for real-time detection. It is intended to reduce mortality and improve patient quality of life.

How does light contribute to light-mediated minimally-invasive theranostics (LMIT)?

Light is described as a key theranostic tool that enables diagnosis and therapy of cancerous tissues with reduced invasiveness.

What topics does the review cover about optical MIT/LMIT in oncology?

It summarizes optical MIT/LMIT state-of-the-art, focusing on multimodal optical image-guided intelligent treatment, intraoperative imaging, and real-time analysis-guided optical therapy.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Jiven