A Pure NanoICG-Based Homogeneous Lipiodol Formulation: Toward Precise Surgical Navigation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Long-Term Transcatheter Arterial Embolization

Abstract Purpose To surmount the critical issues of clinical hepatectomy and achieve a precise surgical navigation of hepatocellular carcinoma after long-term transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE).Methods A facile and green pure-nanomedicine formulation technology was developed to construct carrier-free indocyanine green nanoparticles (nanoICG). The nanoICG was dispersed into lipiodol via a super-stable homogeneous lipiodol formulation technology (SHIFT nanoICG) for TAE combined with near-infrared fluorescence-guided precise hepatectomy.Results We demonstrate that SHIFT nanoICG integrates excellent anti-photobleaching capacity, great optical imaging properties, and specific tumoral deposition to recognize tumor regions, featuring sufficient physical stability for fluorescence-guided precise hepatectomy. Importantly, SHIFT nanoICG is capable of visualizing all lesions in rabbit-bearing VX2 orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma models, even the tiny focus to 0.6 × 0.4 mm.Conclusion Our findings indicate that SHIFT nanoICG provides a promising avenue to address the clinical issue of hepatectomy and has excellent potential for a translational pipeline.