A miniaturized imaging system for optical guided surgery of head and neck cancer

Near-infrared fluorescence image-guided surgery, FIGS, has lately shown a huge potential in oncologic and lymphatic related surgeries. In some indications such as liver or heart surgery, fluorescence-reachable anatomic structures are limited by the access to the surgical field. Nevertheless, most of the systems available on the market are too large to image the sides of cavities. Small devices are clearly required to improve workability of fluorescence imaging systems. The current work describes the evaluation of Fluostick a CE med certified instrument dedicated to narrow area imaging. This small size device is made of an optical head connected to a control box. We tested this instrumentation at the preclinical level for the optical-guided surgery of head and neck tumors.