The design of the optical touchpointer system for brain tumorresections : The electrical system design

Abstract:

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive form of brain malignancy. The morphological similarities of the malignant and the surrounding tissue cause difficulties in distinguishing the tumors during surgery. Improved methods for precise tumor resection have long been investigated, with the aim to improve the results in resecting malignant brain tumors. Real time diagnostics is obvioulsy crucial for assisting neurosurgical tumor resection. An optical fiber based system is developed in this project. For this electronics is developed for amplifying the weak photocurrent  from the photon detectors, modulating the light sources and supplying power for all the parts of the system. The electronics is controlled by LabView (National Instruments) program. This LabView program also performs signal processing for extracting the diagnostic information from the detected light intensity signals.