Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy for Intraoperative Glioblastoma Diagnosis-A Complementary Tool to Frozen Section?

Area of Science:

• Neuro-oncology
• Medical Imaging
• Pathology

Background:

• Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor.
• Intraoperative frozen section analysis is standard but time-consuming.
• Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) imaging is a label-free, real-time alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare SRS imaging with conventional hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining for GBM histopathology.
• Evaluate SRS's ability to visualize key GBM features intraoperatively.

Main Methods:

• Analyzed 30 GBM patient samples.
• Prepared both HE-stained frozen sections and SRS virtual HE-like images.
• 12 neuropathologists assessed 60 images for seven GBM criteria.

Main Results:

• SRS and HE showed similar frequencies for hypercellularity and hypervascularization.
• HE superior for pleomorphism, endothelial proliferation, mitotic activity, and necrosis detection.
• SRS had lower detection rates for several features but comparable for hypervascularization and necrosis.

Conclusions:

• SRS imaging provides rapid, label-free morphological data for GBM.
• It shows comparable visualization for some features, especially hypervascularization.
• SRS is a promising adjunct to neuropathological workflows, though HE remains superior for WHO-defining features.