Evaluation of Dynamic Optical Projection of Acquired Luminescence for Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Large Animals

Open surgery requiring cytoreduction still remains the primary treatment course for many cancers. The extent of resection is vital for the outcome of surgery, greatly affecting patients’ follow-up treatment including need for revision surgery in the case of positive margins, choice of chemotherapy, and overall survival. Existing imaging modalities such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography are useful in the diagnostic stage and long-term monitoring but do not provide the level of temporal or spatial resolution needed for intraoperative surgical guidance. Surgeons must instead rely on visual evaluation and palpation in order to distinguish tumors from surrounding tissues. Fluorescence imaging provides high-resolution, real-time mapping with the use of a contrast agent and can greatly enhance intraoperative imaging. Here we demonstrate an intraoperative, real-time fluorescence imaging system for direct highlighting of target tissues for surgical guidance, optical projection of acquired luminescence (OPAL). Image alignment, accuracy, and resolution was determined in vitro prior to demonstration of feasibility for operating room use in large animal models of sentinel lymph node biopsy. Fluorescence identification of regional lymph nodes after intradermal injection of indocyanine green was performed in pigs with surgical guidance from the OPAL system. Acquired fluorescence images were processed and rapidly reprojected to highlight indocyanine green within the true surgical field. OPAL produced enhanced visualization for resection of lymph nodes at each anatomical location. Results show the optical projection of acquired luminescence system can successfully use fluorescence image capture and projection to provide aligned image data that is invisible to the human eye in the operating room setting.