Near infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging technique can provide precise and real-time information about tumor location
during a cancer resection surgery. However, many intraoperative fluorescence imaging systems are based on wearable
devices or stand-alone displays, leading to distraction of the surgeons and suboptimal outcome. To overcome these
limitations, we design a projective fluorescence imaging system for surgical navigation. The system consists of a LED
excitation light source, a monochromatic CCD camera, a host computer, a mini projector and a CMOS camera. A
software program is written by C++ to call OpenCV functions for calibrating and correcting fluorescence images
captured by the CCD camera upon excitation illumination of the LED source. The images are projected back to the
surgical field by the mini projector. Imaging performance of this projective navigation system is characterized in a tumor
simulating phantom. Image-guided surgical resection is demonstrated in an ex-vivo chicken tissue model. In all the
experiments, the projected images by the projector match well with the locations of fluorescence emission. Our
experimental results indicate that the proposed projective navigation system can be a powerful tool for pre-operative
surgical planning, intraoperative surgical guidance, and postoperative assessment of surgical outcome. We have
integrated the optoelectronic elements into a compact and miniaturized system in preparation for further clinical
validation.
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