Study of freshly excised brain tissues using terahertz imaging

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Medical Physics
• Neuro-oncology

Background:

• Accurate delineation of brain tumor margins is critical for effective surgical resection.
• Current imaging modalities may have limitations in real-time, intraoperative margin assessment.
• Terahertz (THz) imaging offers potential as a non-ionizing, label-free imaging technique.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of reflection-type THz imaging for differentiating brain tumors from normal brain tissue.
• To correlate THz imaging findings with conventional imaging and histopathology.
• To explore the potential of THz imaging for real-time intraoperative guidance in neurosurgery.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a reflection-type terahertz (THz) imaging system to scan freshly excised whole brain tissue.
• Acquired THz images and compared them with visible images, MRI, and hematoxylin and eosin-stained microscopic images.
• Analyzed THz signal intensity in relation to tissue properties like cell density and water content.

Main Results:

• THz imaging successfully differentiated tumors from normal brain tissue with clear boundaries visible in THz images.
• Distinction between grey and white matter was achieved due to myelin distribution differences.
• THz images showed strong correlation with MRI results, and signal intensity related to cell density after water removal.

Conclusions:

• Reflection-type THz imaging is a promising tool for label-free, real-time visualization of brain tumors.
• This technology can aid surgeons in precisely determining tumor margins during brain surgery.
• THz imaging provides complementary information to MRI and histopathology for brain tissue analysis.