Imaging of human brain tumor tissue by near-infrared laser coherence tomography.

Introduction: Intraoperative detection of residual tumor remains an important challenge in surgery to treat gliomas. New developments in optical techniques offer non-invasive high-resolution imaging that may integrate well into the workflow of neurosurgical operations. Using an intracranial glioma model, we have recently shown that time domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows discrimination of normal brain, diffusely invaded brain tissue, and solid tumor.