Miniature, multi-dichroic instrument for measuring the concentration of multiple fluorophores

Identification of tumour margins during resection of the brain is critical for improving the post-operative outcomes. Due to the highly infiltrative nature of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and limited intraoperative visualization of the tumour margin, incomplete surgical resection has been observed to occur in up to 80 % of GBM cases, leading to nearly universal tumour recurrence and overall poor prognosis of 14.6 months median survival. This research presents a miniaturized, SiPMT-based optical system for simultaneous measurement of powerful DRS and weak auto-fluorescence for brain tumour detection. The miniaturisation of the optical elements confined the spatial separation of eight select wavelengths into footprint measuring 1.5 × 2 × 16 mm. The small footprint enables this technology to be integrated with existing surgical guidance instruments in the operating room. It’s dynamic ability to subtract any background illumination and measure signal intensities across a broad range from pW to mWs make this design much more suitable for clinical environments as compared to spectrometer-based systems with limited dynamic ranges and high integration times. Measurements using optical tissue phantoms containing mixed fluorophores demonstrate correlation coefficients between the fitted response and actual concentration using PLS regression being 0.95, 0.87 and 0.97 for NADH, FAD and PpIX, respectively. These promising results indicate that our proposed miniaturized instrument could serve as an effective alternative in operating rooms, assisting surgeons in identifying brain tumours to achieving positive surgical outcomes for patients.