Fluorescence headlights proposed for minimally-invasive surgical tools (Conference Presentation)

Early stages and the margins of disease can be invisible to human vision during surgical interventions. Molecular probes with fluorescence labeling are used to enhance contrast of lesions to distinguish their location and extent. However, low intensity fluorescence signals are problematic because photobleaching permanently loses this critical information. By using low power illumination from a scanning fiber endoscope (SFE), the rate of information loss is reduced by over 6x in glioma mouse model using 5ALA-PpIX compared to a clinical surgical microscope. We propose using one or more SFEs as headlights near the tip of surgical tools to guide interventions.