Endoscopic In Vivo Hyperspectral Imaging for Head and Neck Tumor Surgeries Using a Medically Approved CE-Certified Camera with Rapid Visualization During Surgery.

: In vivo visualization of malignant tumors remains the main challenge during head and neck cancer surgery. This can result in inadequate tumor margin assessment and incomplete tumor resection, adversely affecting patient outcomes. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a promising approach to address this issue.

Hyperspectral imaging and evaluation of surgical margins: where do we stand?

Purpose Of Review: To highlight the recent literature on the use of hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for cancer margin evaluation ex vivo, for head and neck cancer pathology and in vivo during head and neck cancer surgery.

Recent Findings: HSI can be used ex vivo on unstained and stained tissue sections to analyze head and neck tissue and tumor cells in combination with machine learning approaches to analyze head and neck cancer cell characteristics and to discriminate the tumor border from normal tissue. Data on in vivo applications during head and neck cancer surgery are preliminary and limited.