Infrared Camera for Brain Mapping During Surgery

It is extremely important to identify and distinguish healthy brain tissue from diseased brain tissue during neurosurgery. If normal tissue is damaged during neurosurgery it can result in long term neurological problems for the patient. The brain tissue as it appears prior to the operation on CT scan and MRI is occasionally very different from how it appears during the actual operation. Therefore, it is necessary to develop diagnostic procedures that can be used during the operation Presently, the techniques used for intraoperative mapping of the brain are not reliable in all cases in which they are used. Researchers in this study have developed a new approach that may allow diseased brain tissue to be located during an operation with little risk. This new approach uses nfrared technology to locate the diseased tissue and identify healthy brain tissue. The goal of this study is to investigate the clinical use of intraoperative infrared (IR) neuroimaging to locate diseased tissue and distinguish it from normal functioning tissue during the operation.