Intraoperative detection of blood vessels with an imaging needle during neurosurgery in humans.
case_series · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30585293.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aav4992 and PMC identifier 6300404.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Intracranial hemorrhage can be a devastating complication associated with needle biopsies of the brain. Hemorrhage can occur to vessels located adjacent to the biopsy needle as tissue is aspirated into the needle and removed. No intraoperative technology exists to reliably identify blood vessels that are at risk of damage. To address this problem, we developed an "imaging needle" that can visualize nearby blood vessels in real time. The imaging needle contains a miniaturized optical coherence tomography probe that allows differentiation of blood flow and tissue. In 11 patients, we were able to intraoperatively detect blood vessels (diameter, >500 μm) with a sensitivity of 91.2% and a specificity of 97.7%. This is the first reported use of an optical coherence tomography needle probe in human brain in vivo. These results suggest that imaging needles may serve as a valuable tool in a range of neurosurgical needle interventions.
Medical subject headings
- Blood Vessels
- Intraoperative Period
- Neurosurgery
- Optical Imaging