Extracting, Visualizing, and Learning from Dynamic Data: Perfusion in Surgical Video for Tissue Characterization

Intraoperative assessment of tissue can be guided through fluorescence imaging which involves systemic dosing with a fluorophore and subsequent examination of the tissue region of interest with a near-infrared camera. This typically involves administering indocyanine green (ICG) hours or even days before surgery and intraoperative visualization at the time predicted for steady-state signal-to-background status. Here, we describe our efforts to capture and utilize the information contained in the first few minutes after ICG administration from the perspective of both signal processing and surgical practice. We prove a method for characterization of cancerous versus benign rectal lesions now undergoing further development and validation via multicenter clinical phase studies.