Development of a Low-Cost Portable Device for Identification of Parathyroid Glands Using Autofluorescence

Abstract

Intraoperative identification of parathyroid glands, which depends almost exclusively upon the surgeon’s visual acuity and experience is often a challenge in thyroid and parathyroid surgery; thus, developing a device capable of assisting the surgeon in this task will be highly useful. Demonstration of parathyroid glands’ autofluorescence when subjected to an infrared light beam of 785 nm, by Paras et al. in 2011, was followed by a few studies that confirmed the method’s value in identifying the parathyroid glands. Given the expensive nature of devices capable of inducing and detecting autofluorescence, the authors attempted to develop a low-cost, easily replicable device, based on commercially available accessories commonly used for other purposes, presented in this work, showing that autofluorescence can also be detected with inexpensive devices allowing its utilization even in hospitals with scarce economical resources.