Mass spectrometry imaging as a tool for surgical decision-making

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Analytical Chemistry
• Oncology

Background:

• Image-guided therapy in neurosurgery still faces challenges in definitively distinguishing tumor from healthy tissue.
• Current methods like MRI provide guidance but lack real-time, comprehensive tissue characterization.
• Histopathology, the gold standard, is limited to few samples and not practical for intraoperative margin delineation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) as a rapid, complementary approach for intraoperative tissue characterization.
• To correlate mass spectrometry (MS) findings with standard histopathology for validation.
• To explore the integration of MS data with MRI for enhanced tumor visualization and resection guidance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of twelve surgical tissue samples using desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
• Comparison of MS results with diagnoses from standard histopathology (glioblastoma vs. necrotic tissue).
• Application of statistical analysis to identify potential biomarkers and validate MS findings.
• Correlation of MS and histopathology data with preoperative MRI scans.

Main Results:

• DESI mass spectrometry successfully differentiated between glioblastoma and necrotic tissue samples.
• Statistical analysis confirmed the qualitative detection of tissue-specific biomarkers.
• MS results showed strong correlation with histopathology, validating the technique's accuracy.
• Integration of MS, histopathology, and MRI data provided novel insights into tumor presentation.

Conclusions:

• Desorption electrospray ionization is a valuable tool for rapid intraoperative tissue analysis in neurosurgery.
• This technique can support surgical decision-making by improving tumor margin delineation.
• Further research is warranted to explore the full potential of MS in understanding tumor presentation and guiding resection.