Parathyroid gland differentiation using dynamic optical contrast imaging (DOCI)

Surgical excision of an adenomatous or hypercellular parathyroid gland is typically the treatment of choice for primary hyperparathyroidism. Intraoperative identification can be challenging due to potential variable location and indistinct features of these glands. In 115 ex-vivo specimens we evaluated the efficacy of DOCI in identifying hypercellular parathyroid glands. Significant imaging differences were seen between hypercellular vs normal parathyroid glands vs other adjacent healthy tissues across 8 spectral channels (p<0.05). Our classification result (100% sensitivity, 98.8% specificity) using a logistic regression classifier further corroborated that DOCI has the capacity to accurately identify and differentiate parathyroid glands from surrounding tissues. DOCI enables sensitive and specific mapping of parathyroid location, leading to improved accuracy of the surgical procedure, reduced time to successful completion, fewer risks and improved patient outcomes.