Sci Transl Med: Can the metastatic sentinel lymph node be detected by taking a photo during cancer surgery?

Cancer affects about one-third of the world’s population.

In order to expand surgical capabilities and improve patient prognosis, researchers such as Blair have developed a six-channel color/near-infrared image sensor inspired by the mantis shrimp vision system, which can guide near-infrared fluorescence images during surgery.

Mantis shrimp eyes and bio-inspired image sensor

The unique eyes of the mantis shrimp can maximize the amount of photons contributed to it and the amount of information contained in every glimpse around it .

The imaging capability of the image sensor

In order to provide information about the location of the tumor that cannot be provided by a single instrument, the researchers adjusted three color channels to visually observe the operation process, and adjusted three near-infrared channels to multiply the optical probe that highlights the cancer tissue.

Tumor detection rate by different methods

In athymic mice transplanted with human prostate tumors, the image sensor can simultaneously detect two tumor-targeting fluorophores, thereby distinguishing tumor lesions from healthy tissues in approximately 92% of cases .

Sentinel lymph node detected during breast cancer surgery

In the operating room, during the surgical resection of 18 breast cancer patients, the image sensor used clinically approved near-infrared fluorophores to further locate the sentinel lymph node .

In summary, the flexibility and performance provided by this simple and compact architecture highlights the advantages of bio-inspired sensors in image-guided surgery .

Original source:

Steven Blair, et al.