BACKGROUND: Stereotactic neurosurgical brain biopsies are afflicted with risks of inconclusive results and hemorrhage. Such complications can necessitate repeated trajectories and prolong surgical time.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and introduce a 1-insertion stereotactic biopsy kit with direct intraoperative optical feedback and to evaluate its applicability in 3 clinical cases.

METHODS: An in-house forward-looking probe with optical fibers was designed to fit the outer cannula of a side-cutting biopsy kit. A small aperture was made at the tip of the outer cannula and the edges aligned with the optical probe inside. Stereotactic biopsies were performed using the Leksell Stereotactic System. Optical signals were measured in millimeter steps along the preplanned trajectory during the insertion. At the region with the highest 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced fluorescence, the probe was replaced by the inner cannula, and tissue samples were taken. The waiting time for pathology diagnosis was noted.

RESULTS: Measurements took 5 to 10 minutes, and the surgeon received direct visual feedback of intraoperative 5-ALA fluorescence, microcirculation, and tissue gray-whiteness. The 5-ALA fluorescence corroborated with the pathological findings which had waiting times of 45, 50, and 75 minutes. Because only 1 trajectory was required and the patient could be prepared for the end of surgery immediately after sampling, this shortened the total surgical time.

CONCLUSION: A 1-insertion stereotactic biopsy procedure with real-time optical guidance has been presented and successfully evaluated in 3 clinical cases. The method can be modified for frameless navigation and thus has great potential to improve safety and diagnostic yield for both frameless and frame-based neurosurgical biopsy procedures.

The field of spinal neurosurgery covers degenerative conditions and trauma as well as tumors, malformations and vascular disorders of spine and spinal cord. This article focuses on the Swedish spinal neurosurgical care regarding radiculopathy and myelopathy. Disc herniation, foraminal stenosis, spinal stenosis and spinal cord compression due to degenerative disorders or tumors are discussed. Treatment options such as anterior cervical decompression and fusion, posterior forami-notomy, laminectomy and approaches to spinal intradural tumors are briefly presented. The aim is to present symptoms, diagnostics and treatment options of common conditions to facilitate early detection and referral to neurosurgical centers to avoid delayed dia-gnosis and neurological impairment.

BACKGROUND Accurate stereotactic biopsies of brain tumors are imperative for diagnosis and tailoring of the therapy. Repetitive needle insertions enhance risks of brain lesioning, hemorrhage, and complications due to prolonged procedure.

OBJECTIVE To investigate clinical benefits of a combined 5-aminolaevulinic acid (5-ALA) fluorescence and laser Doppler flowmetry system for the detection of malignant brain tumor and blood vessels in stereotactic biopsies.

METHODS Planning of targets and trajectories was followed by optical measurements in 20 patients, using the Leksell Stereotactic System and a manual insertion device. Fluorescence spectra, microvascular blood flow, and tissue grayness were recorded each millimeter along the paths. Biopsies were taken at preplanned positions. The diagnoses were compared with the fluorescence signals. The recordings were plotted against measurement positions and compared. Sites indicating a risk of hemorrhage were counted as well as the time for the procedures.

RESULTS Signals were recorded along 28 trajectories, and 78 biopsies were collected. The final diagnosis showed 17 glioblastomas, 2 lymphomas, and 1 astrocytoma grade III. Fluorescence was seen along 23 of the paths with 4 having the peak of 5-ALA fluorescence 3 mm or more from the precalculated target. There was increased microcirculation in 40 of 905 measured positions. The measurement time for each trajectory was 5 to 10 min.

CONCLUSION The probe provided direct feedback of increased blood flow along the trajectory and of malignant tissue in the vicinity of the target. The method can increase the precision and the safety of the biopsy procedure and reduce time.

A fiber optic probe was developed for guidance during stereotactic brain biopsy procedures to target tumor tissue and reduce the risk of hemorrhage. The probe was connected to a setup for the measurement of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) induced fluorescence and microvascular blood flow. Along three stereotactic trajectories, fluorescence (n = 109) and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) (n = 144) measurements were done in millimeter increments. The recorded signals were compared to histopathology and radiology images. The median ratio of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) fluorescence and autofluorescence (AF) in the tumor was considerably higher than the marginal zone (17.3 vs 0.9). The blood flow showed two high spots (3%) in total. The proposed setup allows simultaneous and real-time detection of tumor tissue and microvascular blood flow for tracking the vessels.

Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) has been adapted for optical guidance during stereotactic deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. It has been used in more than 130 DBS implantations. The necessary steps to go from experimental studies to clinical use in the neurosurgical setting are reviewed.

Resection of brain tumor is a challenging task as the tumor does not have clear borders and the malignant types specifically have often a diffuse and infiltrative pattern of growth. Recently, neurosurgical microscopes have been modified to incorporate fluorescence modules for detection of tumor when 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) is used as a contrast. We have in combination with the fluorescence microscopes implemented and evaluated a fluorescence spectroscopy based handheld probe for detecting the 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in the gliomas in 50 patients intraoperatively. The results show a significantly high sensitivity for differentiating tumor from the healthy tissue and distinguished fluorescence intensity levels in the tumor cell infiltration zone around the tumor. However, knowledge on association of the quantified fluorescence signals specifically in the intermediate inflammatory zone with the infiltrative tumor cells can be complemented with volumetric tissue imaging and a higher precision histopathological analysis. In this work, a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with central wavelength of 1325nm has been used to image the tissue volume that the fluorescence is collected from and is evaluated against histopathological analysis for a higher precision slicing. The results show that although healthy brain has a homogenous microstructure in the OCT images, the brain tumor shows a distinguished texture in the images correlated with the PpIX fluorescence intensity and histopathology.

Resection of brain tumor is a challenging task as the tumor does not have clear borders and the malignant types specifically have often a diffuse and infiltrative pattern of growth. We have previously implemented and evaluated a fluorescence spectroscopy based handheld probe for detecting the 5-aminolevulinic acid induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in the gliomas. To add another dimension to the brain tumor detection and volumetric analysis of the tissue that exhibits fluorescence, optical coherence tomography was investigated on tumor specimens.

Material and Methods:

A fluorescence microscopy and a spectroscopy system as reported previously were used for detecting the fluorescence signals [1, 2]. A total of 50 patients have been included for intraoperative assessment of the tumor borders using the fluorescence techniques. A spectral domain OCT imaging system (TELESTO II, Thorlabs, Inc., NJ, USA) with central wavelength of 1325 nm was used to study the tissue microstructure post operatively. The system has a resolution of 13 and 5.5 μm in the lateral and axial directions, respectively. Tissue specimens from three patients undergoing brain tumor surgery were studied using the OCT system.

Results and Conclusion:

Using fluorescence spectroscopy the tumor could be detected with a sensitivity of 0.84 which was significantly higher than that of the surgical microscope (0.30). Brain tissue appeared rather homogeneous in the OCT images however the highly malignant tissue showed a clear structural difference from the non-malignant or low malignant brain tumor tissue which could be related to the fluorescence signal intensities.