Fluorescence spectroscopy for guiding malignant brain tumor resection with Optical Touch Pointer

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a highly malignant primary brain tumor, is difficult to distinguish from from its surrounding functioning tissue under direct vision in the operating field, since it grows in an infiltrative growth pattern. The main challenge in the surgical treatment of GBM is to fully resect the tumor and avoid neurological impairment. In this paper we extend previous proof-of-principle studies by extending the clinical potential of OTP with the introduction of more sophisticated multivariate analysis schemes. The aim is to distinguish tumor and healthy tissue as well as possible using singular value decomposition (SVD) and cluster analysis methods.