Developing a Clinical Prototype to Guide Surgeons for Intraoperative Label-Free Identification of Parathyroid Glands in Real Time.

Background: Patients undergoing thyroidectomy may have inadvertent damage or removal of the parathyroid gland(s) due to difficulty in real-time parathyroid identification. Near-infrared autofluorescence (NIRAF) has been demonstrated as a label-free modality for intraoperative parathyroid identification with high accuracy. This study presents the translation of that approach into a user-friendly clinical prototype for rapid intraoperative guidance in parathyroid identification.

Label-free intraoperative parathyroid localization with near-infrared autofluorescence imaging.

Context: The inability to accurately localize the parathyroid glands during parathyroidectomy and thyroidectomy procedures can prevent patients from achieving postoperative normocalcemia. There is a critical need for an improved intraoperative method for real-time parathyroid identification.

Objective: The objective of the study was to test the accuracy of a real-time, label-free technique that uses near-infrared (NIR) autofluorescence imaging to localize the parathyroid.

A novel optical approach to intraoperative detection of parathyroid glands.

Background: Inadvertent removal of parathyroid glands is a challenge in endocrine operations. There is a critical need for a diagnostic tool that provides sensitive, real-time parathyroid detection during procedures. We have developed an intraoperative technique using near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence for in vivo, real-time detection of the parathyroid regardless of its pathologic state.

Near-infrared autofluorescence for the detection of parathyroid glands.

A major challenge in endocrine surgery is the intraoperative detection of parathyroid glands during both thyroidectomies and parathyroidectomies. Current localization techniques such as ultrasound and sestamibi scan are mostly preoperative and rely on an abnormal parathyroid for its detection. In this paper, we present near-infrared (NIR) autofluorescence as a nonintrusive, real-time, automated in vivo method for the detection of the parathyroid gland.