A 5-ALA-induced fluorescence-based imaging device for guidance during surgery of malignant and non-malignant preliminary photosensitized tumors is presented. The setup fits existing clinical optical rigid and flexible endoscopes and operation microscopes. It consists of three light sources including white light, red light fluorescence excitation and blue light fluorescence excitation sources. The light from any combination of the latter sources is delivered to tissue using specially designed fiber optic light guide. Two cameras are used to acquire fluorescence and back reflected white light images: a gray-level camera for fluorescence in the far red range and a color camera for white light images. A dichroic mirror is implemented to spectrally split the light coming from tissue. Images from both cameras are processed into a computer with specially developed software where it can be displayed in different modes including overlaying or been used for image mosaicing which allows for increasing the intrinsic reduced field of view of endoscopes by providing highly resolved extended cartography. Experiments were carried out on phantoms and on patients in clinical conditions during surgery of brain and other tissues. Blue light excitation was more sensitive for thin tumors but red light excitation was more beneficial for solid tumors and for navigation in presence of slight bleeding.

Date Published: 24 May 2018
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 10677, Unconventional Optical Imaging, 106773N (24 May 2018); doi: 10.1117/12.2311273

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10677:
Unconventional Optical Imaging
Corinne Fournier; Marc P. Georges; Gabriel Popescu, Editor(s)