Novel combined fluorescence/reflectance spectroscopy system for guiding brain tumor resections: hardware considerations

Abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has long been known as the most common and aggressive form of brain malignancy. The morphological similarities of the malignant and surrounding tissue cause difficulties to distinct the tumors during surgery. In order to achieve better results in resecting malignant brain tumors, a fiber based optical system which can be used intraoperative is developed in this project. In this context, the system hardware details, system controlling interfaces and laboratory testing results are presented. Based on the results obtained from various tests with tissue-equivalent phantoms, the system is proved to have stable performance, robust structure, and have good linearity as well as high sensitivity to low PpIX concentration under strong ambient light conditions.