Intraoperative diagnosis of metastatic
tumors is of significant importance to the treatment of
ovarian cancer. NIR-II fluorescence imaging holds great promise for facile detection of
tumor in situ with high sensitivity and resolution. Herein, a kind of NIR-II fluorescent
polymer dots (NIR-II Pdots) with high brightness is developed for real-time detection of metastatic
ovarian cancer via NIR-II fluorescence imaging. The NIR-II Pdots are constructed via the self-assembly of NIR-II emissive aggregation induced emission luminogens (NIR-II AIEgens) and poly (
styrene)-graft-poly(
ethylene glycol) in water. Such NIR-II Pdots show very high fluorophore contents of nearly 30% and high quantum yield of 5.4% at emission maximum near 1020 nm. Further modification of the NIR-II Pdots with targeting
peptides yields NIR-II Pdots-
GnRH, which can afford enhanced affinity of NIR-II Pdots to
ovarian cancer. Upon
intravenous injection of the NIR-II Pdots, whole-body organs and vessels, peritoneal and
lymphatic metastases of
ovarian cancer are clearly visualized by NIR-II fluorescence imaging. Under the guidance of NIR-II fluorescence imaging, the metastatic foci with the diameter down to ≈2 mm can be facilely eliminated. The results indicate preclinical potential value of the NIR-II Pdots for metastatic
ovarian cancer detection.