A tiny camera that fits inside a biopsy needle and can help surgeons identify and avoid blood vessels in the brain has undergone successful initial tests in humans.

A team of researchers and clinicians led by the University of Adelaide has demonstrated the potential of the “imaging needle” for reducing the risk of dangerous brain bleeds in patients undergoing brain biopsy.

Currently, about 1 per cent of patients will die following the procedure, while a further 2-3 per cent will be left disabled.

Published today in the journal Science Advances, the researchers describe how the tiny imaging needle can detect blood vessels with a very high degree of accuracy (91.2 per cent sensitivity and 97.7 per cent specificity).

Professor Robert McLaughlin, Chair of BioPhotonics at the University of Adelaide’s Medical School, said the tiny fibre-optic camera encased within a brain biopsy needle helped surgeons see tiny vessels that were too small to be imaged on an MRI.

“Brain biopsies are a common procedure carried out to diagnose brain tumour and other diseases,’’ he said.

“It is a minimally invasive operation, but still carries the risk of damage to blood vessels that is potentially fatal.

“The imaging needle lets surgeons ‘see’ at-risk blood vessels as they insert the needle, allowing them to avoid causing bleeds.

“The fibre-optic camera, the size of a human hair, shines infra-red light onto the brain tissue. And the computer system behind the needle identifies the blood vessel and alerts the surgeon.”

The imaging needle has undergone an initial trial with 11 patients at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Western Australia.

“These patients were undergoing other types of neurosurgery, and consented to allow us to safely test how well the imaging needle was able to detect blood vessels during surgery,” Prof McLaughlin, pictured, said.

“This is the first reported use of such a probe in the human brain during live surgery, and is the first step in the long process required to bring new tools like this into clinical practice.”

Professor McLaughlin thinks it could be anywhere from five to 10 years until the biopsy needle is used widely.

The research was led by scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics and the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, in collaboration with Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.