FluoRa - a System for Combined Fluorescence and Microcirculation Measurements in Brain Tumor Surgery

In brain tumor surgery it is difficult to distinguish the marginal zone with the naked eye. Fluorescence techniques can help identifying tumor tissue in the zone during resection and biopsy procedures. In this paper a novel system for combined real-time measurements of PpIX-fluorescence, microcirculation and tissue grey-whiteness is presented and experimentally evaluated. The system consists of a fluorescence hardware with a sensitive CCD spectrometer for PpIX peak detection, a laser Doppler system, optical probes, and a LabView software. System evaluation was done on static fluorescing material, human skin, and brain tumor tissue. The static material indicates reproducibility, the skin measurements exemplify simultaneous fluorescence and microcirculation measurement in real-time, and the tumor tissue showed PpIX peaks. These decreased over time, as expected, due to photo bleaching. In addition, the system was prepared for clinical use and thus laser- and electrical safety issues were considered. In summary, a system for multiparameter measurements during neurosurgery was successfully evaluated in an experimental environment. As a next step the system will be applied in clinical brain tumor biopsies and resections.