A pilot study of using multiphoton microscopy to diagnose schwannoma

Schwannoma is a kind of slow-growing and rare neoplasm which poses diagnostic challenges owing to its clinical silence at the presentation period. Here, a schwannoma tumor was studied by multiphoton microscopy (MPM). Results indicate that MPM is capable of identifying a schwannoma tumor without the need for labels. Based on the two-photon excited fluorescence signals from cells and blood vessels and second harmonic generation signals from collagens, several significant features for the identification of schwannoma were visualized, including the Antoni A region, Antoni B region, pericellular collagen pattern, hyalinized vessels and hyalinized stroma. These conclusions highlight the potential of MPM taken as a diagnostic method for label-free identification of schwannoma tumors by these histopathologic characteristics.