Defining the Zone of Acute Peripheral Nerve Injury Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging in a Crush Injury Sheep Model.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Current technologies to define the zone of acute peripheral nerve injury intraoperatively are limited by surgical experience, time, cumbersome electrodiagnostic equipment, and interpreter reliability. In this pilot study, we evaluated a real-time, label-free optical technique for intraoperative nerve injury imaging. We hypothesize that fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) will detect a difference between the time-resolved fluorescence signatures for acute crush injuries versus uninjured segments of peripheral nerves in sheep.

Methods

Label-free FLIm uses ultraviolet laser pulses to excite endogenous tissue fluorophores and detect their fluorescent decay over time, generating real-time tissue-specific signatures. A crush injury was produced in eight peripheral nerves

SUBMITTER: Dave DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12226729 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature