Optical analysis of biological aerosols for intraoperative tissue characterization
Abstract
Mass spectroscopy (MS) techniques have been extensively used for the characterization of human tissues. Among MS-based approaches, fast evaporative alternatives have proved useful to analyze the surgical aerosol (smoke) that is released during electrosurgical dissection, which constitutes a rich source of biological information associated to the underlaying metabolomic composition. This enables, for instance, intraoperative maneuvers in surgery rooms such as the delineation of tumor boundaries. Unfortunately, MS technology is still expensive, with ballpark figures of around a few hundreds of thousands of dollars.Interferometric light scattering techniques have the sensitivity for single molecule detection/imaging. Under appropriate conditions, where the scattering particles are much smaller than the wavelength and the variability of the refractive index and specific density across species is small, the interferometric detection of light scattering can quantify the mass of the nano-objects. This suggests that a MS-like measurement can be performed by optical means.We propose implementing a low-coherence dynamic light scattering (LC-DLS) technique for the in-line assessment of surgical aerosols. The LC-DLS technique also relies on the interferometric detection of scattered light, and it can be realized in a self-contained, integrated photonics platform that is all-optical-fiber, compact, and portable, whose cost is much lower than a MS-based setup. Implementations of this technique have been demonstrated for aqueous systems but its use for the analysis of aerosols content is new. Since MS-based studies have found that histological specificity, that is the biomarker signature, relies on the profile of a few species rather than specific biomarkers, the conditions for a quantitative optical measurement of biomolecules mass based on the proposed approach is encouraging.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 13, 2023
- Source ID
- N629092312103
Entities
People
- Jose Rafael Guzman Sepulveda
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy