Objective To summarize the development, clinical application, advantages and disadvantages, and future prospects of parathyroid autofluorescence in recent years. MethodThe literatures related to the research progress of parathyroid autofluorescence in recent years were searched, and launched a specific discussion. Results Autofluorescence of parathyroid gland was still in its infancy at home and abroad. The existing studies had shown that this technique was superior to visual recognition and could reduce the incidence of postoperative complications. Autofluorescence technology had shown some advantages in identifying parathyroid gland during operation, and its mechanism research and related equipment improvement should be focused in the future. ConclusionAutofluorescence technique is of great value in the identification of parathyroid glands in patients undergoing thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy.
This paper presents a surgical optical navigation system with non-invasive, real-time, and positioning characteristics for open surgical procedure. The design was based on the principle of near-infrared fluorescence molecular imaging. The in vivo fluorescence excitation technology, multi-channel spectral camera technology and image fusion software technology were used. Visible and near-infrared light ring LED excitation source, multi-channel band pass filters, spectral camera 2 CCD optical sensor technology and computer systems were integrated, and, as a result, a new surgical optical navigation system was successfully developed. When the near-infrared fluorescence was injected, the system could display anatomical images of the tissue surface and near-infrared fluorescent functional images of surgical field simultaneously. The system can identify the lymphatic vessels, lymph node, tumor edge which doctor cannot find out with naked eye intra-operatively. Our research will guide effectively the surgeon to remove the tumor tissue to improve significantly the success rate of surgery. The technologies have obtained a national patent, with patent No. ZI.2011 1 0292374.1.
ObjectiveTo understand the methods of judging the blood supply of parathyroid during thyroidectomy at home and abroad in recent years. MethodThe literature on parathyroid blood supply was collected, the research progress was reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of related methods were analyzed. ResultsIn recent years, near-infrared fluorescence, laser speckle contrast imaging and other technologies had been applied. They showed better advantages as compared with naked eye observation. The research on parathyroid blood supply at home and abroad was still in its infancy, and more clinical samples and related equipment optimization were still needed. ConclusionFluorescence imaging technology has a certain auxiliary role in the judgment of intraoperative parathyroid blood supply and can reduce the incidence of hypoparathyroidism to a certain extent.
Motor imagery is often used in the fields of sports training and neurorehabilitation for its advantages of being highly targeted, easy to learn, and requiring no special equipment, and has become a major research paradigm in cognitive neuroscience. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), an emerging neuromodulation technique, modulates cortical excitability, which in turn affects functions such as locomotion. However, it is unclear whether tDCS has a positive effect on motor imagery task states. In this paper, 16 young healthy subjects were included, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and near-infrared spectrum (NIRS) signals of the subjects were collected when they were performing motor imagery tasks before and after receiving tDCS, and the changes in multiscale sample entropy (MSE) and haemoglobin concentration were calculated and analyzed during the different tasks. The results found that MSE of task-related brain regions increased, oxygenated haemoglobin concentration increased, and total haemoglobin concentration rose after tDCS stimulation, indicating that tDCS increased the activation of task-related brain regions and had a positive effect on motor imagery. This study may provide some reference value for the clinical study of tDCS combined with motor imagery.
Objective To observe the effects of selecting different cognitive tasks during dual-task stepping training assisted by a pelvic weight support rehabilitation robot on cerebral cortex activation and task performance in convalescent period stroke patients. Methods Convalescent period stroke patients treated at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University between June 2023 and July 2024 were selected. Patients were recruited and conducted a self-controlled study. Patients were subjected to a self controlled study and received AB regimen training. The plan A underwent dual-task verbal fluency-stepping training assisted by the pelvic weight support rehabilitation robot, while the plan B performed dual-task serial subtraction-stepping training assisted by the pelvic weight support rehabilitation robot. During the intervention process, near-infrared equipment was used to collect relative oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) concentrations in six brain areas including prefrontal cortex (PFC), supplementary motor area (SMA), and primary motor cortex (PMC). The correct response rate and average number of steps were collected. Results A total of 20 patients were included. Among them, there were 16 males and 4 females. The average number of steps in Plan A were higher than those in Plan B (P<0.05). The correct response rate and the relative increase in HbO2 concentration of PFC, PMC, and SMA in both hemispheres of Plan A was higher than that in Plan B, but there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P>0.05). Conclusions Compared with the dual-task serial subtraction-stepping training assisted by the pelvic weight support rehabilitation robot, the dual-task verbal fluency-stepping training assisted by the pelvic weight support rehabilitation robot can significantly increase the mean number of steps in the dual tasks.
The use of non-invasive blood glucose detection techniques can help diabetic patients to alleviate the pain of intrusive detection, reduce the cost of detection, and achieve real-time monitoring and effective control of blood glucose. Given the existing limitations of the minimally invasive or invasive blood glucose detection methods, such as low detection accuracy, high cost and complex operation, and the laser source's wavelength and cost, this paper, based on the non-invasive blood glucose detector developed by the research group, designs a non-invasive blood glucose detection method. It is founded on dual-wavelength near-infrared light diffuse reflection by using the 1 550 nm near-infrared light as measuring light to collect blood glucose information and the 1 310 nm near-infrared light as reference light to remove the effects of water molecules in the blood. Fourteen volunteers were recruited for in vivo experiments using the instrument to verify the effectiveness of the method. The results indicated that 90.27% of the measured values of non-invasive blood glucose were distributed in the region A of Clarke error grid and 9.73% in the region B of Clarke error grid, all meeting clinical requirements. It is also confirmed that the proposed non-invasive blood glucose detection method realizes relatively ideal measurement accuracy and stability.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical application of near-infrared autofluorescence (NIRAF) detection technology in protecting the parathyroid glands and the research progress on the autofluorescent substances. MethodThe recent literature on clinical application of NIRAF detection technology in protecting the parathyroid glands and the identification of fluorescent substances, both domestically and internationally, was conducted. ResultsThe majority of current studies indicate that NIRAF detection technology can effectively assist surgeons in identifying parathyroid tissue, improve the accuracy of intraoperative parathyroid identification, and reduce postoperative complications such as hypocalcemia. However, a small number of studies have found that the use of NIRAF detection technology during surgery does not significantly reduce postoperative complications in thyroid surgery patients, especially in those with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Current research on autofluorescent substances in the parathyroid glands remains relatively limited, with proteins such as the calcium-sensing receptor and vitamin D receptor being considered potential sources of fluorescence emitted by the parathyroid glands under near-infrared light excitation. ConclusionsBased on the reviewed literature, NIRAF detection technology for parathyroid gland identification has demonstrated significant effectiveness in intraoperative identification of parathyroid tissue and reduction of postoperative complications. However, limitations such as insufficient accuracy in patients with hyperparathyroidism and lack of user-friendliness restrict its clinical application. Therefore, future research should focus on identifying the endogenous fluorescent substances in the parathyroid glands and their luminescence mechanisms. This will enable targeted improvements in fluorescence detection technology, further enhancing the accuracy and convenience of intraoperative parathyroid detection, ultimately benefiting patients more significantly.
Clinical grading diagnosis of disorder of consciousness (DOC) patients relies on behavioral assessment, which has certain limitations. Combining multi-modal technologies and brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigms can assist in identifying patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) and vegetative state (VS). This study collected electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals under motor BCI paradigms from 14 DOC patients, who were divided into two groups based on clinical scores: 7 in the MCS group and 7 in the VS group. We calculated event-related desynchronization (ERD) and motor decoding accuracy to analyze the effectiveness of motor BCI paradigms in detecting consciousness states. The results showed that the classification accuracies for left-hand and right-hand movement tasks using EEG were 93.28% and 76.19% for the MCS and VS groups, respectively; the classification precisions using fNIRS were 53.72% and 49.11% for these groups. When combining EEG and fNIRS features, the classification accuracies for left-hand and right-hand movement tasks in the MCS and VS groups were 95.56% and 87.38%, respectively. Although there was no statistically significant difference in motor decoding accuracy between the two groups, significant differences in ERD were observed between different consciousness states during left-hand movement tasks (P < 0.001). This study demonstrates that motor BCI paradigms can assist in assessing the level of consciousness, with EEG being more sensitive for evaluating residual motor intention intensity. Moreover, the ERD feature of motor intention intensity is more sensitive than BCI classification accuracy.
For the near-infrared (NIR) spectral analysis of the concentration of blood glucose, the calibration accuracy can be affected because of the existing of outlier samples. In this research, a Monte-Carlo cross validation (MCCV) method is constructed for eliminating outlier samples. The human blood plasma experiment in vitro and the human body experiment in vivo were introduced to evaluate the MCCV method for its application effect in NIR spectral analysis of blood glucose. And the uninformative sample elimination method based on modified uninformative variable elimination (MUVE-USE) was employed in this study for the comparison with MCCV. The results indicated that, like the MUVE-USE method, the outlier samples elimination method based on MCCV could be used to eliminate the outlier samples which came from gross errors (such as bad sample) or system errors (such as baseline drift). In addition, the outlier samples from the random errors of uncertain causes which affect model accuracy can be eliminated simultaneously by MCCV. The elimination of multiple outlier samples is beneficial to the improvement of prediction accuracy of calibration model.
Objective The aim of this article is to verify the clinical effect of the near-infrared fluorescent liver cancer surgery projection navigation system without display screen. Methods Three patients who need to undergo open hepatectomy for liver cancer in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from March 2021 to May 2021 were included, verifying the accuracy, stability, and time delay effect of the self-developed near-infrared fluorescence projection navigation system for the location of tumor in surgeries. Results The intraoperative tumor location could be accurately displayed by the near-infrared fluorescence projection system and there was no significant difference between the location of the tumor displayed by intraoperative ultrasound. The tumor location displayed by the near-infrared fluorescence projection system was not influenced by the tumor movement and had no visual-time delay. Postoperative pathology confirmed that the projection range was consistent with the tumor range. Conclusion This near-infrared fluorescence projection technology innovates the intraoperative tumor imaging mode and can accurately navigate open hepatectomy in small sample trials, and it is expected to achieve wide clinical application through subsequent iterative optimization and verification.