Histopathological diagnosis in intra-axial brain tumors is a crucial step to determine the appropriate path of treatment. Stereotactic biopsy is often used to obtain tissue in cases where the pathology is multifocal or located in anatomically inaccessible areas of the brain. However, although this procedure has enormous advantages, particularly in terms of minimally invasive surgery, it is not always able to provide a diagnostic result and, above all, it is not without risks, potentially including very serious sequelae.

Several efforts have been made to improve this procedure, both by reducing the risks and by improving the results obtained. Although attempts have been made to mitigate these problems, for example by creating Nashold needles equipped with optical tomography or spectroscopy for vessel identification, or fluorometry or laser spectroscopy for tumour detection, there are no concrete integrated systems that have reached clinical application.

Building on this need, our project aims to integrate 5-ALA fluorescence, tissue autofluorescence, Raman spectroscopy and ultrasound imaging into a standard Nashold needle to overcome these limitations and provide a comprehensive solution to maximize the safety and accuracy of brain tumour needle biopsies.

Our consortium's experience in both bioengineering, specializing in optical fiber and its integration into clinical needles, and medical-surgical aspects, provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy and feasibility of this integrated approach with the ultimate aim of reducing the clinical risk for the patient, optimizing surgery and hospitalization times, and consequently reducing costs for the health service and hospitals.

The results of this project will provide essential knowledge for future research efforts aimed at integrating these technologies into advanced platforms such as robotics. It will also contribute to the advancement of neuro-oncological surgery and the wider improvement of medical applications.