[home] [Personal Program] [Help]

---

Session: Surgery & Intervention
Session starts: Friday 27 January, 14:00
Presentation starts: 14:00
Room: Room 531

---

Merle S. Losch (TU Delft)
Jenny Dankelman (TU Delft)
Benno H. W. Hendriks (TU Delft, Philips Research)

Abstract:
Significance: Multiple medical conditions such as vertebral fractures, degenerative diseases or spinal deformities can require patients to undergo spine surgery. Accuracy varies greatly depending on the experience of the physician, and guidance is required to prevent serious injury to nearby neural and vascular structures. Integrating fiber optics into the spine surgery device allows for reliable tissue feedback in real time using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS). So far, research has been limited to conventional probes with two parallel optical fibers, which is a convenient probe layout for the detection (and prevention) of perpendicular breaches. Aim: As anatomical conditions and entry point recommendations for spine surgery are likely to produce breaches non-perpendicular to the bone interface, our study aims at investigating how an optical probe with a customized layout can help to anticipate non-perpendicular breaches. A sideways-looking DRS probe can be created by protruding the collecting fiber with regards to the emitting fiber. Approach: We conducted Monte Carlo simulations and optical phantom experiments to investigate how protrusion of the collecting fiber affects the probed volume to allow for the detection of acute breaches employing a customized fiber optic probe. Results: The simulations show that the probed volume can be manipulated with the help of fiber protrusion. In the phantom experiments, difference in intensity magnitude between cancellous and cortical spectra changes with fiber protrusion. Conclusion: DRS can enhance spine surgery by allowing to detect impending breaches. With our results from MC simulations and optical phantom experiments, we show how the use of protruded fibers allows to manipulate the probed volume to detect proximity of the cortical layer at acute angles. This suggests that our customized fiber optic probe is beneficial in acute breach scenarios.