Development of optical spectroscopy instruments and quantification methods to guide the resection of tumors in neurosurgery

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The initial treatment step for brain cancer (before using chemotherapeutic drugs and/or radiation) is one of the following surgical procedures: (1) stereotactic needle biopsy to extract tumor tissue specimen allowing a diagnosis to be made, and (2) removal of as much of the tumor as possible to reduce the chances of post-surgical recurrences. The development of rapid and accurate tumor detection techniques to guide these procedures is crucial in neurosurgery where minimizing the amount of normal tissue that is resected or biopsied is highly desirable to avoid damage to motor and cognitive functions. The overarching goal of the proposed research program is to develop a range of innovative highly sensitive imaging and light detection methods for in vivo brain tumor characterization to provide accurate detection of lesion margins during surgery. More specifically, optical spectroscopy diagnostic instruments and data processing algorithms will be developed, exploiting non-ionizing light-tissue interaction mechanisms to quantify various biological markers associated with brain cancer. The engineering design of the new technologies will insure compatibility with the neurosurgical workflow in order to allow routine use in operating rooms and facilitate clinical adoption. The medical imaging instruments currently used in neurosurgery are limited in terms of their ability to fully detect and precisely localize tumor margins. Technological advances made through the proposed research will improve this by significantly expanding the amount of in vivo tissue information available at the time of surgery, thereby eventually resulting in safer and more accurate interventions. This new technology also has the potential to reduce the cost associated with surgery by reducing the time spent in the operating room and limiting the number of repeat procedures owing to diagnostic inaccuracies. Although this program primarily focuses on brain tumors, a longer-term goal is to broaden the scope of applicability of the core technology so it can be adapted to surgeries associated with other types of cancer such as breast, cervix, mouth and throat.