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Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is currently regarded as a potentially malignant tumor, and early diagnosis is the best way to improve its prognosis. Therefore, it will be meaningful to develop a new method for auxiliary diagnosis of this disease. Methods: Here we try out a new means to detect GIST by combining two-photon imaging with automatic image processing strategy. Results: Experimental results show that two-photon microscopy has the ability to label-freely identify the structural characteristics of GIST such as tumor cells, desmoplastic reaction, which are entirely different from those from gastric adenocarcinoma. Moreover, an image processing approach is used to extract eight collagen morphological features from tumor microenvironment and normal muscularis, and statistical analysis demonstrates that there are significant differences in three features—fiber area, density and cross-link density. The three morphological characteristics may be considered as optical imaging biomarkers to differentiate between normal and abnormal tissues. Conclusion: With continued improvement and refinement of this technology, we believe that two-photon microscopy will be an efficient surveillance tool for GIST and lead to better management of this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early gastric cancer is associated with a much better prognosis than advanced disease, and strategies to improve prognosis is strictly dependent on earlier detection and accurate diagnosis. Therefore, a label-free, non-invasive imaging technique that allows the precise identification of morphologic changes in early gastric cancer would be of considerable clinical interest.Methods: In this study, multiphoton microscopy (MPM) using two-photon excited fluorescence combined with second-harmonic generation was used for the identification of early gastric cancer.Results: This microscope was able to directly reveal improved cellular detail and stromal changes during the development of early gastric cancer. Furthermore, two features were quantified from MPM images to assess the cell change in size and stromal collagen change as gastric lesion developed from normal to early cancer.Conclusions: These results clearly show that multiphoton microscopy can be used to examine early gastric cancer at the cellular level without the need for exogenous contrast agents. This study would be helpful for early diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer, and may provide the groundwork for further exploration into the application of multiphoton microscopy in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]