Cognitive Vision for Surgical Guidance during Cancer Resection

The aim of this project is to develop a cognitive platform for surgical navigation and in vivo, in situ tissue characterisation in neurosurgery. Multispectral (MS) reflectance and fluorescence imaging will be used synergistically in a novel fashion to improve tumour identification during macroscopic tissue assessment. To identify tumour remnants, cellular tissue morphology captured with pCLE will be fused with molecular information from RS for accurate microscopic tissue characterisation. To provide intraoperative navigation and guide surgical resection, the tissue state will be mapped on the morphological structures of the dynamic surgical environment, highlighting tumour areas. The proposed platform will enable accurate and highly personalised tissue characterisation with the aim of improving both the efficacy and safety of tumour resections. A key application is the characterisation of brain tissue for the diagnosis of
glioblastoma (GB), but its versatile nature makes it suitable for any cancer resection procedure.