Multispectral imaging of organ viability during uterine transplantation surgery

Uterine transplantation surgery has been proposed as a treatment for permanent absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI) in the case of loss of the uterus. Due to the complexity of the vasculature correct reanastomosis of the blood supply during transplantation surgery is a crucial step to ensure reperfusion and viability of the organ. While techniques such as fluorescent dye imaging have been proposed to visualise perfusion there is no gold standard for intraoperative visualisation of tissue oxygenation. In this paper results from a liquid crystal tuneable filter (LCTF)-based multispectral imaging (MSI) laparoscope are described. The system was used to monitor uterine oxygen saturation (SaO2) before and after transplantation. Results from surgeries on two animal models (rabbits and sheep) are presented. A feature-based registration algorithm was used to correct for misalignment induced by breathing or peristalsis in the tissues of interest prior to analysis. An absorption spectrum was calculated at each spatial pixel location using reflectance data from a reference standard, and the relative contributions from oxy- and deoxyhaemoglobin were calculated using a least squares regression algorithm with non-negativity constraints. Results acquired during animal surgeries show that cornual oxygenation changes are consistent with those observed in point measurements taken using a pulse oximeter, showing reduced SaO2 following reanastomosis. Values obtained using the MSI laparoscope were lower than those taken with the pulse oximeter, which may be due to the latter’s use of the pulsatile arterial blood signal. Future work incorporating immunological test results will help to correlate SaO2 levels with surgical outcomes.