Advanced Diagnostics and Optical Imaging Technologies in Cancer Research

Dear Colleagues,

Medical imaging represents an important step in understanding human morphology and physiology, but above all, it dramatically changed the way in which doctors evaluate, diagnose, monitor and treat diseases. Classic imaging methods, such as ultrasound, CT scan, MRI and radionuclide imaging (PET, SPECT), that have been used for decades are currently considered the standard-of-care in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of many pathological conditions.

Nevertheless, cancer is the disease of the 21st century, being potentially devastating and unfortunately having an increasing incidence. Although the prognosis is favourable in early stages for the majority of cancers, the situation changes significantly in the case of late diagnosis, in spite of emergency novel therapies. Therefore, there is a real and increasing need for non-invasive, rapid and precise methods of diagnosis.

In dermato-oncology, the benefits of dermoscopy are already widely acknowledged as a popular method of diagnosis and follow-up. However, fewer colleagues know and work with other methods such as high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM). However, these comprise only a small number of the large spectrum of cutaneous imaging techniques, with no less than eleven optical imaging methods being available for improving diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, in clinical practice, no single imaging method is ideal for all skin conditions, hence the need for a multimodal approach. The same principle can be applied to all other medical specialities that are currently characterized by the need to use combined imaging techniques for screening, diagnosis and follow-up.

Improving the standardization of non-invasive imaging techniques in medicine will allow clinical practitioners to better diagnose and monitor cancers over time and achieve better diagnostic accuracy, ultimately improving the patient’s quality of life and lowering healthcare costs.

Since great innovations in optical imaging have often been the result of the collaboration between clinical practitioners, medical researchers and engineers, I invite all physicians and engineers alike, who are experimenting with modern optical and laser digital devices for the digital diagnosis of cancer to submit your work to this Special Issue.

Moreover, compiling several techniques and perspectives of use in different specialties in the same issue represents a first step toward the emergence of combined techniques and the improvement in diagnostic accuracy of the techniques already used. I hope the collection of our published papers will remain a pillar of collaboration throughout all medical specialities and gather a great variety of outdated and novel imaging techniques and their role in the management of cancer.

Multimodal and AI-assisted approaches are welcomed. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Digital dermoscopy and total body mapping;
• High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and dermoscopically guided HFUS (DG-HFUS);
• Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM);
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT), LC-OCT and cross-polarization optical coherence tomography (CP OCT);
• Diffuse optical tomography (DOT), diffuse optical imaging and diffuse optical spectroscopy;
• Multi-spectral imaging and photoacoustic tomography;
• Raman imaging and shifted excitation Raman differential spectroscopy (SERDS);
• Diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS);
• Fluorescence imaging and confocal laser endomicroscopy with fluoresceint sodium;
• Laser Doppler and speckle imaging;
• macroscopic fluorescence lifetime imaging (macro-FLIM);
• Multi-spectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT), also known as functional photoacoustic tomography (fPAT);
• Stereoscopic digital mammography (SDM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and dedicated breast computed tomography (BCT);
• Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and microwave imaging spectroscopy (MIS);
• Nonlinear optical imaging (NLOI): two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG);
• White light interference-phase microscopy;
• Rapid scanning laser-emission microscopy (LEM).

Dr. Vlad Mihai Voiculescu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• digital diagnostics
• advanced diagnostics
• optical imaging
• medical images
• artificial intelligence
• image analysis
• laser technologies