Rationale and objectives: In this preclinical proof-of-principle study, the necrosis avid agent hypericin was investigated as a potential early indicator for therapeutic response after ethanol-mediated chemical ablation in murine liver tumors.
Materials and methods: Seven mice bearing intrahepatic radiation-induced fibrosarcoma-1 tumors were intravenously injected with hypericin 1 hour before (n = 3) or 24 hours after (n = 4) intratumoral ethanol injection. Mice were euthanized 24 hours after hypericin injection and, taking advantage of the fluorescent property of the compound, the excised livers were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively by means of fluoromacroscopic and fluoromicroscopic examinations, colocalized with conventional histomorphology.
Results: Significant differences in hypericin fluorescence were found in necrosis, viable tumor and normal liver tissue in decreasing order (P < .05) (ie, in necrosis, mean fluorescence densities were about 4.5 times higher than in viable tumor and approximately 14 times higher than in normal liver). When hypericin was injected 1 hour before, maximal blood concentrations were achieved at the time of ethanol treatment, so that on ablation an outstanding extravasation took place in the entire necrotic area in comparison with accumulation of hypericin only at the peripheral zone of necrosis when it was injected 24 hours after ablation.
Conclusions: Hypericin specifically enhanced the imaging contrast between necrotic and viable tissues and nonspecifically distinguished viable tumor from normal liver. Injection of hypericin shortly before ablation is more favorable than after ablation, because it circumvents difficulties with no-entry zones for hypericin and requires shorter intervals between ethanol ablation and imaging.