Laser-Based Imaging Tool for Safer Brain Tumor Surgery

Brain tumor tissue can be hard to distinguish from normal brain during surgery. Neurosurgeons use their best judgment in the operating room but often have to guess exactly where the edges of the tumor are while removing it. A new laser-based microscopic technology may help surgeons see the difference between tumor tissue and normal brain in real-time. Called a stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscope, it's now being tested at the University of Michigan Health System. Images collected using an SRS microscope show that normal brain contains sparse cells with bundles of nerve fibers, called axons, but brain tumor tissue is full of cells in a disordered pattern.

Transcript

00:00:00 [Music] here at the University of Michigan we're developing uh entirely novel Optical technology to improve the accuracy of brain tumor surgery so we harness uh this Optical breakthrough called coherent Ramen scattering microscopy which allows us to achieve realtime microscopic visualization of tissue from the operating room so this technology is

00:00:29 unique because it does it generates microscopic images but it doesn't require any fixation processing dying of the tissues so it allows us to do this in real time uh without any delay uh in tissue processing and this ability to differentiate on a microscopic scale between tumor and normal brain allows us to provide more accurate surgical results to the patient what we're doing

00:00:54 now is developing a second generation system that will allow users to interact with the microscope in a much more straightforward way uh in a way that doesn't disrupt the surgical workflow and what we envision is a system that sits close to the operative field where surgeons can simply load samples into a microscope and within seconds the Imaging is triggered and you can see a

00:01:20 microscopic view of the tissue that you're interested in understanding we anticipate that there will be many applications for this technology not just in brain tumor surgery but in any operation where the margins of a tumor are indistinct certainly for head and neck cancers for breast cancers for cancers of the GI system optimizing surgical

00:01:42 results ultimately optimizes the patient outcome and improves the quality of life and the survivorship of patients who suffer from these disorders [Music]