Unfortunately, even with the best surgical microscopes the most tumors cannot be distinguished from the surrounding healthy tissue during surgery. Hence, it remains a big challenge to resolve the boundary between healthy tissue and the tumor. Thus, a technology which would enable neuro surgeons to differentiate tumor from non-tumor tissue during surgery is needed. This would allow the surgeon to remove the tumor much more safely and reliably while preserving the healthy brain tissue, thereby greatly reducing the risk for the patient.
To date, mainly four techniques are used to differentiate tumor tissue from healthy tissue:
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Intraoperative Fluorescence Imaging
- Intraoperative Pathology
- Medical Ultrasound
However, each of these techniques has significant limitations. Hence, a new technique is needed which overcomes the limitations of the established techniques. The following four criteria determine the value of such a new technology for practical applications:
- visualization in real time (no averaging over longer periods required)
- visualization in widefield
- contrast agents are not required
- visualization in 3D
A technology which fulfills all the criteria listed above would be ideal. However, it is already enough if a new technology is better than the established techniques.