HYPerspectral Enhanced Reality (HYPER): a physiology-based surgical guidance tool.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Optical Technology
• Physiological Monitoring

Background:

• Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) offers real-time, contrast-free assessment of tissue oxygenation and perfusion.
• HSI has significant potential for intraoperative quantification of gastrointestinal perfusion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy of HSI in quantifying bowel perfusion.
• To develop a method for superimposing hyperspectral data onto real-time surgical video.

Main Methods:

• Created ischemic bowel loops in 6 pigs and imaged them over time using an HSI system.
• Developed HYPerspectral-based Enhanced Reality (HYPER) software to overlay HSI data onto live video.
• Correlated HSI parameters (StO2, Near-InfraRed perfusion) with local capillary lactates, reactive oxygen species, and histopathology.

Main Results:

• HSI parameters correlated well with biochemical markers of ischemia and histopathological damage.
• A machine-learning algorithm predicted local capillary lactates from HSI-StO2% with a mean error of 1.18 ± 1.35 mmol/L.
• High accuracy was achieved for StO2 values >30%, with a mean error of 0.3 ± 0.33 mmol/L.

Conclusions:

• HYPER imaging precisely quantifies perfusion changes over time in a bowel ischemia model.
• HSI is a valuable tool for real-time assessment of gastrointestinal perfusion during surgery.