3D visualization firm Synaptive Medical and Colorado State University's Flint Animal Cancer Center have joined forces to develop intraoperative imaging and remote sensing technology to detect and treat brain tumors more accurately.
Dr. Rebecca Packer, a neurosurgeon at Colorado State, is using Synaptive's Raman spectroscopy research system to explore clinical biomarkers that can assist in surgical resection of tumors and also improve preservation of normal brain tissue, according to the university. The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is the first to acquire the research system, thanks to a donation from the Eldred Foundation.
Packer is working on developing accurate and less-invasive neurosurgical techniques and therapies for treating brain tumors in humans and veterinary patients, in part by enhancing intraoperative imaging to more accurately detect and resect tumors, according to the institution. The collaboration's initial research goal is to confirm the specific spectral "fingerprint" of the various types of brain tumors, and then match that fingerprint with the microscopic appearance of the tumor and surrounding normal tissue, Colorado State said.
