Sub-diffuse interstitial optical tomography to improve the safety of brain needle biopsies: a proof-of-concept study.

The extraction of tissue samples during brain needle biopsy can cause life-threatening hemorrhage because of significant blood vessel injury during the procedure. Vessel rupture can have significant consequences for patient health, ranging from transient neurological deficits to death. Here, we present a sub-diffuse optical tomography technique that can be integrated into neurosurgical workflow to detect the presence of blood vessels. A proof-of-concept study performed on a realistic brain tissue phantom is presented and demonstrates that interstitial optical tomography (iOT) can detect several 1 mm diameter high-contrast absorbing objects located <2  mm from the needle.