The role of intraoperative flow cytometry on intracranial tumor surgery : a scoping review.

Background: The aim of this review is to present the role of intraoperative flow cytometry (IFC) in the intracranial tumor surgery. This scoping review aims to summarize current evidence on the intraoperative use of IFC in patients with intracranial tumors.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in the Medline, Cochrane and Scopus databases up to January 21, 2025. Data extraction was carried out following the use of preset inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: A total of 14 studies were analyzed in this review, involving 1.043 patients with intracranial tumors to assess the utility of IFC in the rapid diagnosis of these tumors. The studies evaluated IFC for grading gliomas and meningiomas, distinguishing tumor margins, determining tumor prognosis, and its application in pediatric tumors, metastases, and primary central nervous system lymphomas. The most promising applications of IFC are in glioma and meningioma grading, as well as in identifying glioma margins. IFC appears to be a valuable intraoperative tool for intracranial tumor classification, providing rapid results within minutes.

Conclusion: IFC shows potential as a real-time, intraoperative tool for brain tumor classification and surgical guidance. Nevertheless, studies in this field are limited, and further research with more robust data is needed to establish specific cut-off values that will enable reliable conclusions.