Laparoscopic near-infrared hyperspectral imaging system for identifying living porcine nerves and unexposed arteries

Abstract

Surgical resection remains a key curative option for cancer, with minimally invasive approaches increasingly adopted. To enhance intraoperative visualization, we developed a laparoscopic near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) system comprising a custom laparoscope, supercontinuum light source, and acousto-optic tunable filter. Ex vivo NIR-HSI of porcine arteries, mesentery, and nerves revealed distinct spectral signatures from 1000–1402 nm. Pixel-based classification via neural networks achieved >99% accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in most cases. In vivo imaging of a living pig enabled identification of exposed nerves (88.4% accuracy, 68.7% recall) and unexposed arteries (83.2% accuracy, 60.2% recall). These results demonstrate that laparoscopic NIR-HSI can differentiate tissues with similar coloration and detect structures embedded beneath the surface, offering potential for safer minimally invasive surgeries.