Hospital Testing Space-Age Tool in Operating Room

Neurosurgeons and researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are adapting an ultraviolet camera with some space-age technology in hopes of using galaxy-exploring technology in the operating room.

The camera, on loan from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, could give surgeons a real-time view of changes invisible to the naked eye and unapparent even with the magnification available with medical imaging technology, according to the hospital.

Hospital officials said the pilot study will determine if the camera can provide visual details that might help surgeons distinguish areas of healthy brain from deadly tumors called gliomas, which have irregular borders as they spread to healthy tissue.

"Our goal is to revolutionize the way neurological disorders are treated," said Dr. Keith L. Black, chairman of the neurosurgery department. "Ultraviolet imaging is one of several intraoperative technologies we are pursuing."

The camera could capture ultraviolet light emitted by a certain chemical found only in tumor cells and display it in a high-resolution image.

"The ultraviolet imaging technique may provide a 'metabolic map' of tumors that could help us differentiate them from normal surrounding brain tissue, providing useful, real-time, intraoperative information," said Dr. Ray Chu, a neurosurgeon co-leading the study.

According to the hospital, in the clinical trial the highly sensitive camera is placed near the surgical field, recording images as the surgeon exposes and removes the tumor. The images are then correlated with tumor appearance, laboratory findings and MRI and CT scans to assess the ultraviolet technology's value in the operating room.