Metal-enhanced emission from indocyanine green:: a new approach to in vivo imaging

Indocyanine green (ICG) is widely used in medical imaging and testing. Its complex spectral behavior and low quantum yield limits some applications. We show that proximity of ICG to a metallic silver particle increases its intensity approximately 20-fold and decreases the decay time. Since the rate of photobleaching is not increased, our results suggest that ICG-silver particle complexes can yield at least 20-fold more photons per ICG molecule for improved medical imaging. (C) 2003 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.