Instant Minimally Invasive Detection of Lung Cancer Through Fiber Optical Generation and Detection of Plasmonic Nanobubbles Around TiN Nanoparticles.

Plasmonic nanobubbles (PNB) are on-demand transient vapor nanobubbles generated around laser pulse-heated plasmonic nanoparticles (NP). Despite promising in vivo tests, their clinical translation is delayed by complex lasers, bulky optical guides, and thermally fragile gold NPs with low PNB generation efficacy. In clinics, there is an unmet demand for in vivo real-time detection of microscopic cancers. Here, we resolve these limitations with an all-new combination of long and safe infrared laser pulses, small biocompatible titanium nitride (TiN) NPs for cancer targeting, and an optical fiber probe for minimally invasive PNB generation and detection in vivo. In water suspensions, tissue, and human lung cancer animal models, TiN NPs efficiently generated PNBs with 325 ps/1064 nm laser pulses. A PNB combination device instantly diagnosed lung cancer in animals with close to 100% sensitivity and specificity. The developed PNB combination device will support minimally invasive clinical applications for real-time high-sensitivity cancer diagnosis during biopsy and surgery.