title: Review of the potential of optical technologies for cancer diagnosis in neurosurgery: a step toward intraoperative neurophotonics.
abstract: Advances in image-guided therapy enable physicians to obtain real-time information on neurological disorders such as brain tumors to improve resection accuracy. Image guidance data include the location, size, shape, type, and extent of tumors. Recent technological advances in neurophotonic engineering have enabled the development of techniques for minimally invasive neurosurgery. Incorporation of these methods in intraoperative imaging decreases surgical procedure time and allows neurosurgeons to find remaining or hidden tumor or epileptic lesions. This facilitates more complete resection and improved topology information for postsurgical therapy (i.e., radiation). We review the clinical application of recent advances in neurophotonic technologies including Raman spectroscopy, thermal imaging, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescence spectroscopy, highlighting the importance of these technologies in live intraoperative tissue mapping during neurosurgery. While these technologies need further validation in larger clinical trials, they show remarkable promise in their ability to help surgeons to better visualize the areas of abnormality and enable safe and successful removal of malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Spectral Molecular Imaging Inc., 13412 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 250, Sherman Oaks, California 91423, United States; Brain Mapping Foundation, 8159 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 200, West Hollywood, California 90046, United States; Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT), 8159 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 200, West Hollywood, California 90046, United States.
authors.forename: Fartash
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vasefi
authors.affiliation: Spectral Molecular Imaging Inc. , 13412 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 250, Sherman Oaks, California 91423, United States.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: MacKinnon
authors.affiliation: Spectral Molecular Imaging Inc., 13412 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 250, Sherman Oaks, California 91423, United States; University of Southern California, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.affiliation: Brain Mapping Foundation, 8159 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 200, West Hollywood, California 90046, United States; Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT), 8159 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 200, West Hollywood, California 90046, United States; California Neurosurgical Institute, 25751 McBean Pkwy #305, Santa Clarita, California 91355, United States; National Center for Nano-Bio-Electronics (NCNBE), NASA Research Park, P.O.Box 23, Moffett Field, California 94035, United States.
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kateb
keywords: brain tumor; image-guided therapy; intraoperative brain mapping; neurophotonics; optical imaging